SOUTH DEVO
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EDWARD J. F, TOZER
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THE SOUTH DE\OxN HUNT
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GEORGE TEMPLER'S
FAREWELL TO HIS OLD HORN
Though toil hath somewhat worn thy frame.
And time hath marred thy beauty,
Come forth, lone relic of my fame,
Thou well hast done thy duty.
Time was when other tongues would praise
Thy wavering notes of pleasure ;
Now, miser-like, alone I gaze
On thee, a useless treasure.
Some hearts may prize thy music still.
But, ah ! how changed the story.
Since first Devonia felt the thrill
That roused her sporting glory .
Grace still in every vale abounds.
But one dear charm is wanting.
No more I hear my gallant hounds
In chorus blithely chaunting.
And there my steed has found a rest,
Beneath the mountain heather
That oft, like comrades sworn, we've prest
In pleasure's train together.
And some, who at thy call would wake.
Hath friendship long been weeping ;
A shriller note than thine must break
Their deep and dreamless sleeping.
I, too, the fading wreath resign,
For friends and fame are fleeting.
Around his bolder brow to twine,
Where younger blood is beating.
Henceforth, be mute, my treasured Horn,
Since time hath marred thy beauty.
And I, like thee, by toil am worn—
We both have done our duty.
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THE SOUTH DEVON
HUNT
A HISTORY OF THE HUNT FROM ITS FOUN-
DATION. COVERING A PERIOD OF OVER
A HUNDRED YEARS, WITH INCIDENTAL
REFERENCE TO NEIGHBOURING PACKS
BY
EDWARD J. F. TOZER
ILLUSTRATED FROM PHOTOGRAPHS, INCLUDING
A COMPLETE SERIES OF THE MASTERS
AND WITH MAP
PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR
AGENT: MORTON WOOLLEY, TEIGNMOUTH
1916
PREFACE
A HUNT that can claim to have been " estab-
hshed for over a century " and can boast of a
succession of masters unbroken during that period,
save for one short season ninety years ago, is certainly
entitled to its history. The mere desire, however, to
see justice done to a venerable institution was not
alone responsible for the production of this work.
So long as hunting exists the past history of a hunt
will always be of some interest, and, at times, of some
value, to hunting men, especially to members of the
particular hunt concerned. This interest increases
as the vista of bygone years lengthens, and men
begin to live more in the past than in the future.
Memory, however, is fickle and leads to surprising
mistakes ; and tradition has no chance of life in these
days ; so that, in the case of the South Devon Hunt,
where changes of scene and players have been many
and confusing, there appeared a likelihood of the
true facts and sequence of events becoming obscured,
if not lost altogether. But to have either interest or
value, a history must be true. My chief aim, there-
fore, has been accuracy ; I have endeavoured, as far
as possible, not to make a statement of fact without
first verifying it. In some cases the authority for the
statement is quoted ; where it is not, either the fact
viii THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
is within my own personal knowledge, or the state-
ment is made on the authority of my hunting journal,
the hunt minutes, hound lists, newspapers of the
period, the works given in the list of those consulted,
or other authentic records or sources of information.
The trouble and research involved have been amply
compensated for by the ready help received wherever
it has been applied for.
My thanks should first be tendered to the Misses
Carew of Haccombe for their encouragement and the
loan of Sir Walter Carew's most interesting hunting
journal and for permission to reproduce the pictures
at Haccombe. To the family of Templer, including
Captain J. G. E. Templer of Lindridge, his brother
Mr. A. H. Templer, his sister Miss Templer, and
the late R. W. Templer of Teignmouth, I am indebted
for help with the opening chapter of the book on
George Templer of Stover ; in particular, to Captain
Templer for the loan of the original " treasured
horn," of which my friend, Mr. Hubert Parry, has
produced the fine autochrome forming the frontis-
piece of this book, and to the late R. W. Templer for
allowing me to reproduce his hitherto unpublished
portrait of George Templer. I have to thank Miss
Mohun-Harris for a similar permission in respect of
the early painting of her father, the late Mr. Christo-
pher Arthur Harris, also for the loan of original
letters of Mr. Russell and Mr. Trelawny ; and Lady
Baker very kindly helped me in tracing the approxi-
mate date when Sandford Orleigh, her beautiful home
for many years past, was built by George Templer.
PREFACE ix
In connection with the opening chapter I am also
indebted to Mr. Flemming, of the well-known firm of
saddlers, Whippy and Steggall, in North Audley
Street, for assistance in establishing the fact that the
use of the curved hunting-horn lingered in South
Devon after the straight horn had come into general
use elsewhere.
I feel grateful in an especial way for assistance
received from complete strangers. Among these,
Lord Robert Manners, who has no interest in the
hunt, took the trouble to verify the facts concerning
the draft that Templer sent to Belvoir, and to supply
in addition some very interesting particulars concern-
ing it ; Sir John C. H. Scale tried, as his father had
done, to find for me the record, known to exist, of
Sir Henry Scale's hunting career, and though un-
successful in this, he was able to supply a photograph
of that popular master of old ; Miss Turner, the Hon.
Sec. of the Hambledon, is to be thanked for giving,
through the kind offices of Mr. C. B. Fry, leave and
opportunity to copy the only known likeness of John
King of Fowlescombe, which is in the archives of
the Hambledon Hunt ; and Lady Mary Leslie put
at my disposal all the information she had concern-
ing her father's mastership, including his diary, and
cheerfully submitted to the ordeal of two visits from
a photographer. Indeed, but for her kind aid, it
would have been difficult, at this distance of time, to
glean any reliable particulars concerning Captain
Haworth's day.
I have also gratefully to acknowledge the willing
X THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
assistance received from those more or less intimately
connected with the South Devon. Mr. R. H. Watson,
who seems to keep his memory, hke his physical
power, as fresh as ever, took me back further than
anyone else. The diary of Major R. C. Tucker,
again, rendered excellent service, as it did when
" put in evidence " in the course of the arbitration
by the M.F.H. Association on the question of the
hunt boundaries. Mr. Albert Gould is another who
can carry the story back into the years. I owe very
much to Mr. A. S. Rendell for furnishing, amid the
pressure of business, much information and material
that could not be obtained elsewhere, including the
dossier of the arbitration referred to. Mr. W. R.
Rendell, from his intimate and practical knowledge,
was particularly helpful, especially in connection
with the chapters dealing wuth Dr. Gaye and Mr.
Singer, and contributed a delightful descriptive
account of three record runs during the mastership
of the first named. The long connexion of Mr. G. H.
Hext with the fortunes of the hunt made his ready
assistance of the greatest value, and he was also good
enough to place the minute books at my disposal.
Mr. Hext's recollection goes back to Westlake's time,
and his appreciation of that good sportsman is backed
up by that of Mr. R. Vicary, Mr. H. S. Wright,
Messrs. W. C. and J. Clack, and Mr. C. E. R. Walker ;
while to Mr. R. H. Westlake of Wood Hall, Exbourne,
I am indebted for notes of his great-uncle's family
history and for the photograph of the silver cup
presented to him.
PREFACE xi
Without the help of Mrs. Rawes and Mrs. Rudge
the chapter treating of the mastership of their father,
Mr. Lane, would have been more slender even than
it is. Both Mr. A. Kingston and Mr. J. J. Cross have,
at one time or another, kept albums of newspaper
cuttings and reports which have been most useful.
Mr. Ley of Trehill, who has discarded his pink coat,
has fortunately kept his old Haldon buttons, which
are reproduced. Some of the former masters, too,
have been most kind and patient, namely : Mr.
Studd, Major St. Maur, Mr. Vicary, Mr. Brunskill
and Major Cooke Hurle. Others who have helped in
one way or another in giving or procuring informa-
tion are : Mr. Parnell Tucker, Mr. R. Phillpotts, Miss
Simpson, Mr. B. D. Webster, Mr. J. Gould Drew,
Mr. R. M. Bourne, Mr. J. D. P. Goodwin, the Rev.
A. Woolcombe, Frank Collings and Philip Back.
At one time I feared that it would be impossible to
carry out my intention of giving a likeness of every
master. Thanks, however, to Mr. A. C. Loveys for
searching out one of Westlake ; to Mr. F. Marshal
for unearthing one of Ross when I had almost aban-
doned hope ; to the Torbay Royal Yacht Club for
allowing me to copy the one of Lord Haldon in its
possession ; to the proprietors of the County Gentle-
man for free permission to reproduce the portrait of
Mr. Studd from Land and Water, of which they own
the copyright, and to those already mentioned as
having contributed portraits, the blanks were at last
all made good. Colonel Taylor, also, supplied a photo-
graph of Templer's colleague the Rev. Harry Taylor.
xii THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
Nor must I forget the sporting snapshots taken, in
Mr. Brunskill's time, by Miss Ainger, from which I
was allowed to make my own selection.
The question of the map was a difficult one. Here,
again, I had to rely upon the kind help of others.
Mr. Hayter-Hames and Mr. Gilbert Spiller, former
masters of the Mid-Devon, who can speak with
exceptional knowledge and authority ; Mr. A. W.
Luxton, master of the Eggesford, and Mr. J. A.
Tattershall, hon. sec. of that pack ; Sir Ian Heath-
cote-Amory and Mr. Lewis Mackenzie of the
Tiverton ; Mr. W. Coryton and Mrs. Brunskill
have all taken particular pains to supply the most
accurate information at their disposal.
To all the above I tender my grateful thanks.
Without their ready co-operation and help, freely
given according to the material at their command,
my undertaking would have been impossible.
I have also to make my acknowledgments to
the proprietors of the Field, Baily's Magazine and
Baihfs Hunting Directory, besides the authors of the
various works mentioned in the list of works con-
sulted, all of which have been drawn upon somewhat
freely.
I am aware that I am not entitled to claim for this
book any literary merit, but its object will have been
quite attained if it should succeed in fostering a
spirit of loyalty and gratitude to the South Devon
Hunt, to whicli many of us are indebted for some of
the liappiest moments in our lives.
The Old Cottage, Teignmoutu,
1916.
LIST OF WORKS CONSULTED
Beckford, Peter : Thoughts on Hunting (1781).
Daniel : Rural Sports (1801-2).
NiMROD (C. J. Apperley) : Hunting Tours.
New Sporting Magazine (1830-40).
Blaine : Encyclopaedia of Rural Sports (1840).
Hobson's Foxhunting Atlas.
Hall, H. B. : Exmoor, or The Footsteps of St. Hubert in
the West (1849).
Gelert (Rev. E. W. L. Davies) : Guide to the Foxhounds
and Staghounds of England (1849-50).
Cecil (Cornelius Tongue) : The Foxhunter's Guide
(1850-1).
The Druid (E. Scarth Dixon) : Silk and Scarlet (1859).
„ „ „ Scott and Sebright (1862).
C. A. H. (Christopher Arthur Harris) : Letters on the
Past and Present Foxhounds of Devonshire (1861).
Stanford : Map of England and Wales coloured to show
the Fox Hunts (1877).
Davies, Rev. E. W. L. : Dartmoor Days (1863).
„ „ „ The Out-of-door Life of the Rev.
John Russell (1883).
Beaufort, The Duke of : Hunting (Badminton Library)
(1885).
Thornton, Rev. W. H. : Reminiscences and Reflections of
an old West-country Clergyman (1897).
xiv THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
Bradley, Cuthbert : The Reminiscences of Frank Gillard
(1898).
Dale, T. F. : The History of the Belvoir Hunt (1899).
Thormanby : Kings of the Hunting-field (1899).
S. Baring-Gould : A Book of Dartmoor (1900).
Crossing, W. : One Hundred Years on Dartmoor (1901).
Dale, T. F. : The Eighth Duke of Beaufort and the Bad-
minton Hunt (1901).
Thomson, J. Anstruther : Eighty Years' Reminiscences
(1904).
Loder-Symonds, F. C, and Crowdy, E. Percy : A History
of the Old Berks Hunt (1905).
De Trafford, Sir H. : The Foxhounds of Great Britain
and Ireland (1906).
British Hunts and Huntsmen : (1908).
CONTENTS
Preface .....
List of Works Consulted .
List of Illustrations
Chronological Table of Masters
Introduction ....
PAGE
vii
xiu
XXV
XXVll
Nimrod on Devonshire hunting — His limitations as a critic —
Satisfaction of overcoming difficulties — Dialect and nomenclature —
Character of the country — Moor and "In-country" — Limits of the
hunt — Banks and walls — Scenting qualities — Wet weather on Haldon
— Scent on Dartmoor — " Hectors of the Moor " — Fascination of
Dartmoor — Exmoor and Dartmoor contrasted — Wire — Attitude
of new landowners — Ignorance of country usage — Mire and bog —
An unpleasant adventure — The right type of hound — Difference of
opinion — Patience versus pace — A hunt without a pack of its own
— Type of horse — Mr. Whidbome's stamp — Harriers and foxhounds
aa neighbours — The Dart Vale and Haldon — Dearth of hunting
landowners — Shooting tenants and their keepers — A claim for
find-money — Question of legal liability — The farmers good friends
to hunting — Damage Fund — Generous behaviour of Mr. Ward
Wreford — Presentation on his retirement — Financial difficulties —
Subscription — Ethics of capping — Mr. Reginald Herbert's opinion
— The field — Unbroken succession of masters — Loans of country —
Plan of present work — Difficulties of treatment — Chronological
table of masters.
I. THE ORIGINAL COUNTRY
I. George Templer of Stover: 18 — to 1826 . pages 19-32
Early mention of hounds at Lindridge — Family history — Harris
quoted — A Stover draft for Belvoir : letter from Lord Robert
Maruiers — Stamp of Stover hounds — Unpublished letter from
" Jack Russell " — Nimrod quoted — Quicker style of hunting —
Control over animals : a hunting monkey — General appreciation —
A " Memorable Triumvirate " : Templer, Taylor and Russell — His
system of hunting bag-foxes — The " Let-'em-Alones " — Sources
xvi THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
from which the pack was drawn — Nimrod on the bag-fox —
Templer'B contemporaries — Hunting hareB and coursing rabbita
with a pack of foxes — Jack Russell on the subject — Financial diffi-
culties— Verses on leaving Stover — Disposal of the pack — The
Devon Foxhunting Club — His old horn.
II. John King of Fowlescombe : 1827-9 . pages 33-40
A misconception — Its origin — Mr. Reginald Templer's explana-
tion— Harris's description of master and pack — " Mr. King's
Hounds" — Country him ted — Fixtures — Sir Walter Carew's Hunting
Journal — Record of sport — Hunting from Chximleigh — Additional
fixtures — Visit of Bulteel's Hounds — Probable inauguration of the
Ivybridge week — A long draw — Some hunting men of that day —
Mr. Pode of Slade — King takes the Hambledon — A serious accident
— Founder of the Hambledon Hunt Club — The New Sporting
Magazine — King of Fowlescombe identical with King of Corhampton
— Story of a mallard — The South Devon Harriers — Death in the
saddle on Dartmoor.
III. Sir Walter Palk Carew, Bart. : 1829-43
pages 41-59
Popularity — A contemporary appreciation — Kennels at Haccombe
and Marley — Sir Henry Seale at Haccombe : quotations from his
unpublished letters — Limits of country — Hunts some of present
Dartmoor coimtry — His keeper warns off the Dartmoor — Courtenay
Bulteel immoved — " The Devon Hounds " : a private pack —
Hunting Journal — John Beal : contemporary tributes — Bag-foxes
— The box-trap — Wild and healthy bagmen — A six-hours' hunt —
A magnificent run — Country hunted — The Ivybridge meeting —
Lines of country — Clif? foxes — The Teign crossed : above Shaldon
Bridge ; at Netherton ; at the Pleasure-House — Tide too high to
follow — A great nm : Rora to Langamarsh — Hydrophobia — Some
harrier packs — A tragedy — Hunt dinner — Ctu-ious case of a vixen —
Visits to Eggesford — Sport in North Devon — Jack Russell's Hounds
at Haccombe — Resignation — An all-round sportsman — A Carew and
a Champemowne.
IV. Captain Martin E. Haworth : 1843-5 . pages 60-70
Family connections — The Devon Harriers and their doings : Sir
Henry Seale's opinion — The Devon Hounds — Kennels near Powder-
ham — Guest at Eggesford — A run through twelve parishes —
Anstruther Thomson's criticism : a critic at fault — Where a hard
and fast rule fails — Inconvenient position of kennels — A notable
hunting diary — Chief fixtures of that day — The master's keenness —
Good sport — Bag-foxes given up — " Shaking a fox " — A notable
run — Fox in otter's holt — Scent in snow — A point from Stover to
Heine Bridge — Other memorable runs — A master's troubles : was
wire among them ?— Some of his field— Takes the H. H. — Lady
Mary Leslie's story of " The Barber " — An active terrier — The
Silvrr Oreyhound and Road Scrapings — Tom Clark whipper-in
to the Devon — Becomes huntsman to the Craven, Old Berkshire and
Badminton — The Duke's opinion.
CONTENTS xvii
V. Thomas Veale Lane : 1845-9 . . pages 71-77
Kennels at Oaklands, Chudleigh — His own huntsman — Church-
ward whipper-in — Marquis of Waterford in South Devon : finds
his match in Tom Lane — Horses — Steeplechases in those days :
" Vingt-et-un " — " For the Honour of Devon " — Personal Recollec-
tions— Name " Devon Foxhounds " retained — First mention of
" South Devon " : Herbert Bjmg Hall ; Fores's Guide — " Gelert " :
The country " One of the Worst in England " — Sir Henry Scale's
Hounds — Name " South Devon " borrowed by another pack —
Extracts from Woolmer^s Exeter and Plymouth Gazette : " Notes of
Sport " ; hunt dinner — Sir Henry Hoare — Lane's talent for painting
— Hound list.
VI. Sir Henry Paul Seale, Bart. : First Mastership,
1849-51 pages 78-85
Reputation as M.F.H. — A bitch pack — Hunts his own hounds —
His wonderful voice — Inconvenient situation of kennels — His idea
of Devon as a hunting cotmtry — Manages Sir W. Carew's Hounds for
a season — Extracts from unpublished letters — Purchase of hounds
from Mr. Blundell Fortescue — Country hunted : Part loaned
from Charles Trelawny ; Curtisknowle and Woodleigh Woods —
Claim still upheld — Extension of country — Favourite fixtures — Fiill
list of fixtures — Outlying country : kennels overnight at Dorsely,
Totnes — Mr. R. H. Watson's recollections — Memories of Sir H.
Seale — Sir Henry withdraws to his old country — Hound list.
VII. John Whidborne: First Mastership, 1851-6
pages 86-90
Purchase of hounds from Sir Henry Seale — Limits of Country
defined by Whidborne in a letter to Dr. Gaye : from the Exe to the
Dart and from Exeter to Totnes — Business occupations — Previ-
ously master of harriers — Kennels at Buddleford, Teignmouth —
Churchward and Babbage — The pack called the " South Devon " —
Extent and varied character of country — A long chase — Visits
North Devon : quaint account of a run — Mr. Whidborne's retire-
ment : a presentation.
VIII. Sir Henry Paul Seale, Bart. : Second Master-
ship, 1856-65 pages 91-96
Again extends country to include South Devon — Actually master
of the South Devon— The Field quoted— The late Mr. R. F.
Rendell's accoiint of a great run : " The Conqueror " conquered —
Dick Tucker and his cows — Story of Mr. T. C. Kellock — A latter-day
hunt in Sir Henry's old country — Powers as huntsman — Withdraws
to his old country — Sixteen times mayor of Dartmouth — His great
age — Revival of hunting in his old country — Mr. Cubitt at Fallapit
— Pack known as " Mr. Cubitt's Hounds " — Mr. W. F. Brunskill
starts a new pack — His good intentions frustrated — Hound sale at
Totnes — Purchtiees by Mr. Whidborne for the South Devon.
d
xviii THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
IX. Thomas Westlake : 1865-75 . . pages 97-111
" Old Westlake's time " : a standard of merit — Unanimous
praise — Anstruther Thomson — Recollections of living persons :
Mr. Albert Gould, Mr. Geo. Hext, Mr. W. C. Clack, Mr. J. C.
Clack, Mr. R. Vicary, Mr. H. S. Wright — Endurance and horseman-
ship— " A little bit in the riding " — Rest after toil — Rev. W. H.
Thornton quoted — Favourite horses — Knowledge of run of foxes —
A disconcerting answer — A native of North Devon — Rev. W. C.
Clack and the ruling passion — Mr. Walker King — Kennels at
Kingsteignton — A presentation — Early difficulties — Criticized by
"The Devonian of 1828" — Major R. C. Tucker's explanation —
The critic satisfied — Hounds — Hunt servants : W. Sara, W.
Derges — Runs — Mr. Cole's Harriers — Red deer in Buckland Woods
— Keepers' dinner — A complimentary dinner — More runs — A
change of secretary — An historic run : opinion of Charles Trelawny —
Account in Baily — Resignation — Presented with silver cup — A lost
horn.
X. Augustus F. Ross : First Mastership, 1875-8
pages 112-123
A troubled reign — Comes from the Wheatland with Philip Back as
whip — A nocturnal " dust-up " — Keeps on Kingsteignton kennels —
His establishment — A contrast — Opening day at Lindridge :
a large field — A great day's sport — The Field on Tom Harris the
Haccombo keeper — Record of sport — Mr. W. J. Watts at Yarner —
Further sport : a fine run — Wishes to resign — Hunt meetings —
Sir L. Palk condemns Torquay's lack of support — Adjourned
meeting : further discussion — Dissatisfaction in the country —
Mr. William Coryton prospective successor to Ross — The master's
offer rejected — Negotiations with Mr. Coryton fail — Ross continues
in office — Changes in hunt staff — Good sport : a hunting run ; a
day of bad luck — Resignation of Ross — Partition of South Devon
country,
II. PARTITION
1. THE HALDON SIDE
XI. Sir Lawrence Palk, Bart., and Sir John Duntze,
Bart. : 1878-82 .... pages 127-135
The coxmtry partitioned — Boundaries and terms of partition —
New pack established at Haldon — Drafts from the Blackmore
Vale, etc.—" The Haldon Hounds "—Sir L. Palk— Anecdote of his
harriers : unpublished letter of " Squire " Trelawny — Sir Lawrence
at Melton- Yachting and other sports — Mr. E. A. Palk as field-
master — The advantages of early discipline — The Hon. Mrs.
Gambier-Parry- Sir John Duntze— The whistle in the field— Anec-
dote of Mr. Henn-Gennys— Mr. F. Short as hon. sec. : a popular
character— Bickham and the Round O— Huntsmen : Will Nevard,
Dan North— A cheery huntsman — Early reminiscences — Sporting
farmers— An enthusiastic baker— Members of the field.
CONTENTS xix
XII. Mr. Edward Fairfax Studd : First Mastership,
1882-4 pages 136-150
Mr. Studd and Mr. Whidborne succeed to the Haldon side —
Kennels at Oxton — Claim the country vacated by Ross — Claim
waived in favour of Mr. Hemming — Temporary reunion on his
failing — Both sides of country hunted as " South Devon " — A
brief partnership — A staghunt and its sequel — A friendly settlement
— A change of plans : the country again partitioned — Some reflec-
tions on the conventions of hunting — Was Mr. Studd's action a
breach ? — Obligations of an M.F.H. — Wolf-hunting by the Duke
of Beaufort — Orthodoxy or bigotry ? — A successful season — A
popular secretary — A contrast with present-day conditions — Sir
J. Dimtze presents the pack to Mr. Studd — Changes in the pack and
notes on individual hounds — A fine run — A curious finish —
Comments — Mr. Studd's aversion from bagmen — A silver fox ?
— Good sport in his second season — Another staghunt : Mr.
Tremlett's Harriers — Sam Gilmore.
XIII. Lord Haldon : 1884-6 . . . pages 151-154
Mr. Studd stands aside — A change for the worse — Gift of the
pack by Mr. Studd — Conditions attached to the gift — The pack
strengthened by drafts from Belvoir, etc. — Kennels at Haldon
House — " Lord Haldon's Hounds " — Dan North deposed — Good
prospects of sport not fulfilled — Story of a pinafore— Field-masters :
Mr. J. H. Ley ; Mr. O. Bradshaw — The Babbacombe miu-derer — The
High Sheriff fails to hang his man — Financial troubles — Lord
Haldon resigns — Mr. Studd to the rescue — Lord Haldon and Mr.
Studd : a correspondence and its results.
XIV. Mr. Edward Fairfax Studd : Second Master-
ship, 1886-91 .... pages 155-172
The pack sent back to Haldon — Begins hunting with six couple —
A rapidly formed pack : presents and purchases — Lord Haldon
returns his pack to Oxton — The master's energy — Notes of sport :
an vmusual line ; a great run ; a late find — Death of Lady Rolle —
A trial day east of the Exe — Meeting at Exeter — Hunting on that
side definitely established — A formidable undertaking — Hospitality
in the new country — A memorable day — The East Devon Hunt
founded — Colonel Garratt : a long mastership — Dan North goes to
the Western — Succeeded by Smith — Mr. Studd as huntsman —
Anecdote of George Loram — Mr. Studd's perseverance — His horses
— Bad falls — Members of his field — The Chudleigh Harriers — Tom
Lambell killed in the field — Billy Butler — The " Jackdaw Inn " —
Robinson — The " Blizzard in the West " : personal experiences —
Puppy-judging at Oxton — Good runs — Mr. Tremlett's Hoimds —
Afternoon cub-hunting — A bad season and its causes — Lord
Clifford — Further notes of sport — Mr. Studd resigns — His fondness
i or fishing.
XX THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
2. THE NEWTON SIDE
XV. Augustus F. Ross : Second Mastership, 1879-82
pages 173-179
Mr. E. Feamley Tanner hunts the Newton side 1878-9 — " Dart
and Teign Foxhounds " — Inadequate support — Afterwards keeps
a private pack — Kennels at Hawson Court — Has a bad fall — Three
good runs — Mr. Augustus Kingston hon. sec. — Mr. Ross again
comes forward — Appointed master — No guarantee — Kennels at
Ambrook — Arthvu" Mason huntsman — Philip Back returns as
whipper-in — His subsequent career — Some runs — Hunt breakfast
at Cockington Court — Some of the field — The pack visits Sir Henry
Seale's old country : a good run and those who saw it — Personal
recollections — Mr. Ross as a falconer — As a musician — Resignation
— Offer of hounds — The Newton side claimed by the masters of the
Haldon — Claim suspended and Mr. Hemming's offer accepted —
Mr. Hemming's disappearance — The country reverts to Mr. Whid-
borne and Mr. Studd.
XVI. John Whidborne : Second Mastership, 1882-5
pages 180-192
Dissolution of partnership between Mr. Whidborne and Mr. Studd
— Whidborne elects to hunt the Newton side — Kennels at Lidwell —
Jack Whitmore engaged as huntsman — " Mr. Whidborne's Hounds "
— Kennel and stable arrangements — Establishment — Early hours —
No subscription — Mr. Hext and Mr. Rendell appointed honorary
secretaries : their qualifications — A bitch pack — Individual hounds
— A small pack — Long distances — A narrow shave — Whitmore as a
huntsman — Scarcity of foxes — A case of riot — A good run in his first
season — An improvement in the second season — A great run :
change foxes with Mr. Bragg's — Other good runs — Miss Whidborne
— Horses — Whips : Doyle, Edwards, Derges — William Paul : one
of the old school — Pleasant memories — How the name " South
Devon Hounds " was resumed — Whidborne resigns — Lord Haldon
waives his claim to the country — Negotiations with Mr. C. Marshall
— Dr. Gaye comes forward and is accepted.
XVII. Dr. Henry Searle Gaye, 1885-93 pages 193-209
Prosperous state of the country — A successful reign — Major-
General Gaye— Brigade-Surgeon A. C. Gaye : well known as a
gentleman rider — Terms of mastership — Mr. Wliidborne presents
his pack to the committee — Kennels at North End, Ipplepen — New
kennels built at Pulsford Hills, Denbury — Part of the moor country
claimed by Bragg— Claim renewed by Mr. Norton and Mr. Thomas-
Arbitrated upon in 1890— New regulations : The " Receipt "
button ; capping— Hunt imiform— Mr. A. S. Rendell retires from
the socretaryehip- Succeeded by Mr. H. S. Wright, who subse-
quently resigns— Jack Whitmore leaves— Replaced by James
CoIUngs— Prejudice against a harrier huntsman overcome— A
CONTENTS xxi
presentation to Collings — His personality : in the field ; in the
kennel — Master and man combine to raise the fortunes of the hunt
— Dr. Gaye as master — An unfortunate accident — Good sport —
Mr. D. Scratton and his keeper. Bishop — Mr. W. Rendell : his
descriptive account of three notable runs — Dr. Gaye resiimes
possession of the Haldon side vacated by Mr. Studd — His resigna-
tion— His popularity recognized by a dinner and presentation —
A graceful act.
XVIII. Territorial Differences and an Arbitra-
tion ..... pages 210-218
An arbitration by the M.F.H. Association : the South Devon and
Mr. Thomas's (Mid-Devon) — Complaint by Mr. Ross of Mr. Bragg's
Harriers — Mr. Feamley Tanner — Protests from successive masters
— An intolerable situation — lU-feeUng between the two hunts —
An unacceptable offer from Mr. Bragg — The question referred to
the M.F.H. Association — Requirements of hunting law to the
acquisition of new country — Grounds of claim against the South
Devon — The South Devon answer — Value of licence from the
Duchy of Cornwall — Evidence in support of South Devon case —
Text of the Award : the coimtry hiuited by Mr. Thomas solely
South Devon country — Grounds of decision — The Award accepted
in a sportsmanUke spirit — Temporary arrangements for loan of
coxintry to Mr. Thomas — The arrangements consolidated — Text of
resolution forming agreement — Cordial relations established between
the two himts — Credit due to Dr. Gaye, Mr. Hext, Mr. A. Rendell
and Mr. Lewis Rendell — Mr. Lewis Rendell's work — Made an
honorary life member of the hunt — A presentation.
III. REUNION
XIX. Mr. Harold St. Maur, 1893-7 . pages 221-231
The new master's conditions — Staff and kennels — Stover in war-
time— Appointment of field-masters — Hunting the Haldon side —
Change of title : " Mr. St. Maur's Hounds (The South Devon) " —
Prominent members of the hunt — Ladies in the field — The hunting
parson — The medical profession — The Torquay and Paignton
contingents — Other followers — New-comers dtning Mr. St. Maur's
mastership — Resignation of the master — Resignation withdrawn —
New conditions — Resolution and vote of thanks — Second resignation
— Offer of loan of pack — Formation of a sub-committee — Fvmd to
purchase hounds and horses — Generous offer by Mr. St. Maur —
Loan of country to the Mid-Devon : definition of area.
XX. Mr. Robert Vicary and \ 1897-1901
Mr. Washington M. G. Singer I pages 232-24^S
Associations with the coimtry — A timely offer — Appointed joint-
masters — Hunt finances — Other troubles — Collings still huntsman
— Frank Collings — A new whipper-in — Tragic death of ColUngs : \
killed at an earth — Calamity for the hunt — Mr. E. P. Bovey >
xxii THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
appointed to succeed him — A good run — Record of sport — A day
of disaeters — Bovey joins the Imperial Yeomanrj- — Killed in action
in the Boer War— Choules promoted to huntsman — Sir John
Amory'a staghounds in South Devon — ilr. Vicary as a sportsman —
His kennel of fox-terriers widely known — World-wide reputation
as a judge of dog or hotind — List of places at which he has judged —
His eve for hoimd or horse — Sets about improving the pack — His
experience of other co\mtries — The pack — Some favourite hoiinds —
Kennels most fancied — His horses — Sons and other members of the
family — Revives Newton Abbot Steeplecheises : the arrangements
remodelled and improved — Resigns and leaves Mr. Singer to
carry on.
XXI, Mr. Washin-gton M. G. Singer, 1901-7
pages 244-262
Becomes a naturalized British subject — Eeirly days — Dis-
interested motives in first taking the country — Volunteers to
continue alone on 3Ir. Vicary's retirement — Hunts the country at
his own expense — Field expenses provided by the hunt — Appoints
Mr. W. Rendell hvmtsman — A successful move — ilr. Rendell's
qualifications — An appreciation — Mrs. Rendell — Mr. Singer buys
the Leighon Estate : advantages to the country — Owner of
Blagdon Barton — Shooting tenant of Berry — Hunt staff : W. Cole,
H. Thompson — Hunt horses — Mr. Ferris of Capton — The pack —
Purchase of the Four Burrow dog pack — The Haldon side loaned to
the Tremlett — Possession resumed — Fallow deer on Haldon — A
record of good sport : some great runs — A dramatic finish — Red
deer in Buckland Woods : visit of the Quantock Staghounds — The
South Devon Hunt Week — " Sir Henry Seale's country " : pour-
parlers with the Dartmoor — Important letters — ilr. L. Vicary
succeeds Mr. Hext as hon. secretary — A presentation to Mr. Hext
— The master's popuJarity — Some followers of the pack — The
master's enforced absence and unexpected resignation — Greneral
regret — A resolution of thanks — Complimentary dinner and
presentation to Mr. Singer.
XXII. Mr. Hubert F. Bruxskill, 1907-13 pages 263-277
Terms of agreement to himt the country — Brings his own pack —
Mr. Singer's hounds sold at Rugby — ilr. Brunakill : a Devonshire
™*n — Early days — Successively master of the Exmoor and the
Silverton — As a huntsman — His hoimds — Interest in the kennel —
Sucoees at shows — Favourite blood — A large young entry — Viceroy
—Develops Sir Henry Seale's old country — Permission to the
Haldon Harriers to hunt foxes on Haldon — Loans of country :
Haldon to the Silverton ; Canonteign to the ilid-Devon— Hunt ball
inaugurated — Agrees to hunt the country for a further five years —
Mrs. Brunskill : her knowledge of the sport ; leads the field —
Mr. L. G. Vicary succeeded by Major Cobham as hon. sec. — An
admirable secretary— Roger Hannaford— Notes of sport— Good
runs— Disaffection in the hunt— Harmony restored— Change in the
constitution of the hunt— New rules adopted— The master resigns
— PresenUtion to Mr. and Mrs. Brunskill— Sale of hounds.
i
CONTEXTS xxiii
XXIII. Major J. A. Cooke Hurle, 1913-15 pages 278-288
Strangers in the land — A Westcountry man — Es-master of the
Lamerton and New Forest Hounds — Returns to Devonshire with
his own pack — Settles at Holne CYoss, Ashburton — Huntsman as
well as master — Acti\-ity, judgment and tact — Mrs. Hurle — Un-
pleasant adventure — Success at Exeter Hound Show — Agreement
to waive guarantee — Renews loan of Haldon side to the Silverton —
Sport during first season — Bad weather — Best in-country run of the
season — Loan of Kingsbridge country to Mr. Brunskill — Second
season — Guarantee — Resignation of the hon. sec. — Outbreak of the
war — Gloomy outlook — Determination to keep the htmt going —
Master's entire stud taken for the Army — Rejoins his regiment —
Generous act of Messrs. W. and H. Whitley — Polo ponies for the
hunt stables — Mr. Simpson appointed deputy-master — Reeves as
htmtsman — Creditable performance of his duties — Accident to Mr.
W. R. Vicary — Resignation of the master — Resolution passed by
the hunt.
XXIV. Mr. William Whitley and Mr. Herbert
Whitley, 1915- . . . pages 289-299
Vsiried acti^-ities of the new joint-masters — Rearrangement of
hunt duties — Generous attitude of the Messrs. Whitley — Chief
object of maintaining packs in war-time — New recruits to the field —
Some personal notes — Hire of hunters in the country — Other packs
within the South Devon borders — The Mid-Devon — The Silverton :
assistance from Lord Devon and other landowners : Mr. Rape on
active ser\-ice — Mr. Brunskill's : Mrs. Brunskill hunts the pack in
the master's absence on service — Lady masters — Hunting a school
for war — Conclusion.
PAGE
Note ox the ^Iap 301
Principal Places of Meeting 306
Appendix A. A Contemporary Accol^nt of a Rtrs'
in 1S23 309
Appendix B. Rules of the South Devon Hl"S't . 312
Appendix C. Glossary of Devonshire Terms . . 317
Index 319
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
ontispiece
FACB PAOB
1
19
22
AUTOCHROME OF GeORGE TeMPLER's OlD HoRN . Fr
TO
Hunt Buttons .......
George Templer ......
C. A. Harris of Hayne .....
From a picture painted in Rome
The Rev. J. Russell ....... 26
The Rev. H. Taylor 27
Stover in 1773 ........ 30
From an engraving in the possession of Major Harold St. Maur
John King of Fowlescombe ..... 33
Sir Walter P. Carew, Bart. ..... 41
John Beal and the Pack ...... 47
From an oil painting at Haccombe
A Dog Hound ........ 52
From an oil painting at Haccombe
A Bitch Hound ........ 52
From an oil painting at Haccombe
Captain Martin E. Haworth ..... 60
From a water-colour sketch by his sister
" The Barber " 60
From an oil painting in the possession of Lady Mary Leslie
" Captain Rock " 65
From an oil painting in the possession of Lady Mary Leslie
Some of Captain Haworth's Hounds .... 65
From an oil painting in the possession of Lady Mary LesUe
Thomas V. Lane 71
Sir Henry P. Seale, Bart. ..... 78
John Whidborne ....... 86
Thomas Westlake 97
XXVI
THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
TO FACE PAGE
Cup Presented to Mr. Westlake
Augustus F. Ross
Sir Lawrence Palk, Bart. .
From an engraving in Baily's Magazine
Sir John Duntze, Bart.
Mr. E. Fairfax Studd
By permission of the County Gentleman
Lord Haldon ....
Mr. E. Fearnley Tanner .
The South Devon (Exeter Division) at the Round O
1889 ....
John Whidborne (1882)
Mr. Whidborne's Hounds (1883)
Miss Whidborne .
Dr. Henry S. Gaye
Collings with Harbinger and Stripling
Mr. George H. Hext (Chairman of Hunt Committee)
Mrs. Hext .....
Major Harold St. Maur
Stover at the Present Time
Some of Mr. St. Maur's Hounds
Mr. Robert Vicary
Mr. W. M. G. Singer .
Mr. William Rendell
Mr. and Mrs. H. F. Brunskill and the Pack
Photo by Elliot and Fry
Drawing on Dartmoor
Under Birch Tor
Major J. A. Cooke Hurle
Mr. W. Whitley
Mr. H. Whitley .
A Youthful Follower of the Pack
Mr. a. G. Pape (Master of the Silverton)
111
112
127
127
137
151
151
165
180
180
188
193
200
210
210
221
224
229
232
244
252
263
271
271
278
289
289
292
296
Map of the Country
In pocket at end
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE
(The Partition of the Country refers only to the period when
a separate pack was kept on the Haldon side. For temporary
loans of country see chapters devoted to the Masters marked *.
The arrangement with the Mid-Devon Hunt is on a more per-
manent basis : see Chapter XVIII.)
—1 to 1826
1827 „ 1829
1829 „ 1843
1843 „ 1845
1845 „ 1849
1849 „ 1851
1851 „ 1856
1856 „ 1865
1865 „ 1875
1875 „ 1878
THE ORIGINAL COUNTRY
Mr. Templer
Mr. King
Sir W. Carew
Captain Haworth
Mr. Lane
Sir H. Seale
Mr. Whidborne
Sir H. Seale
Mr. Westlake
Mr. Ross
also
(Mr. Templer's)
(Mr. King's)
(Sir W. Carew's
The Devon)
(The Devon)
(The Devon)2
(Sir H. Seale's)
(The South Devon)
(Sir H. Seale's ; also The
South Devon)
(The South Devon)
(The South Devon)
PARTITION
HALDON SIDE
1878 to 1882
1882 „ 1884
1884 „ 1886
1886 „ 1891
Sir L. Palk and
Sir J. DuNTZE
Mr. Studd
Lord Haldon
Mr. Studd
(The Haldon)
(The South Devon)
(Lord Haldon's)
(The South Devon,
Exeter Division)
1 See p. 21.
" The name " South Devon," though already used during Mr. Lane's
mastership, was not oflScially adopted until later. See page 72.
xxvii
xxviii THE SOLTH DEVON HTXT
NEWTOX SITE
1878 to 1879 Mr. Ta.vstib (The Scutb Devon)
1879 ., 1882 Mm. Ross (The South Devon)
/ (1882-4 >lr. Whid-
I bome'5>
1882 „ 1885 Mm. Whidbobnz (igs^s The South
^ Devon)
1885 - 1891 Dh. Gate (The South Devon)
REUNION
1891 to 1893 Db. Gati: (The South Devon)
1893 „ 1897 Mm. St. Maub* (The Sooth Devon ; aUo
Mr. St. Manx's)
(Mm. Vicast and )
1897 „ 1901 \ ^ g^^^^ (The Sooth Devon)
1901 ., 1907 Mm. Sixgeb* (The South Devon)
1907 „ 1913 Mi- Bbl-sskill* (T^e South Devon)
1913 „ 1915 Majok Cooke HrEXE* {The South Devon)
t Mm. W. Whttlzy ^
1915 " — -J and - (The Sooth Devon)
' Mm. H. WmriEY* )
Dr. G»v
HUNT BUTTONS
Mr. Westlakes and Mr. Stndds
T?ie •' R«r«ipt ■• Button
Messrs. Whitley's
Lord Haldon's
Mr. Singer's
To /'ire page 1
THE
SOUTH DEVON HUNT
INTRODUCTION
Nimrod on Devonshire hunting — His limitations as a critic — ^Satisfaction
of overcoming diiiiculties — Dialect and nomenclature — Character of the
cotmtry — Moor and " In-country " — Limits of the hunt — Banks and
•walls — Scenting qualities — Wet weather on Haldon — Scent on Dart-
moor— " Hectors of the Moor " — Fasciaation of Dartmoor — Exmoor
and Dartmoor contrasted — Wire — Attitude of new landowners — Ignor-
ance of country usage — Mire and bog — An unpleasant adventure — The
right type of hound — Difference of opinion — Patience versus pace — A
hunt without a pack of its own — Type of horse — Mr. Whidbome's stamp
— Harriei^ and foxhounds as neighbours — The Dart Vale and Haldon —
Dearth of hunting landowners — Shooting tenants and their keepers — A
claim for find-money — Question of legal Habihty — Decision of the
court — The farmers good friends to hunting — Damsige fund — Generous
behaviour of Mr. Ward-Wreford — Presentation on his retirement —
Financial difficulties — Subscription — Ethics of capping — Mr. Reginald
Herbert's opinion — The field — Unbroken succession of masters — Loans
of cotmtry — Plem of present work — Difficulties of treatment — Chrono-
logical table of masters.
"Devonshire is, certainly, the worst htmting country I ever was in. . . .
It is the only county in which I have heard a pack of hoimds called a
' cry of dogs,' or a cow called a buUock." (Ximrod's Hunting Tours.)
" "VTIMRGD " was undoubtedly a first-rate judge
-L 1 of hunting. He made the sport his busi-
ness, and, in the course of it, visited nearly every
hunt in Great Britain. Yet his criticism of Devon-
shire hunting leaves Devonians unmoved. For not
only was Ximrod — thorough sportsman though he
was — more of a riding man than a hoimd man, but
if we in the far West are denied the mad ecstasy of
'* leading the cream of the cream in the Shire of
2 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
shires," we find compensation in things and circum-
stances that do not fall to the lot of those who make
up the crowded fields of the midlands. The oppor-
tunities of seeing hound -work at its best and of
becoming acquainted with individual hounds, the
total absence of all artificiality, the stoutness of the
foxes, the good-fellowship amongst the members of
the field, who all know one another, the personal
friendship of the most sporting of farmers, the
civility of the country people and the glorious scenery
of the most beautiful of counties — all these give a
charm to the sport that Nimrod knew nothing of.
But, beyond this, there is, to my mind, a satisfac-
tion as great in having gone well to the end of a run
in a rough and intricate country, especially if one
is not over-well mounted, as there is in having kept
a good place in a quick thing in the Shires. A
satisfaction in having done it, be it noted ; not the
same rapture or the same glorious thrill in the doing.
But to have got quickly through a rideless woodland,
riding by ear all the way ; to have hit off the only
crossing of the boggy bottom below, taken the right
turn at the top of the next hill with hounds out of
sight and hearing, jumped the big boundary bank,
bustled round the stony lane instead of attempting
to cross the impossible valley, taken the right line of
gates or jumpable fences and been in time to see
the fox rolled over; to have done all this, with no
pilot in front and nothing but eye, ear and instinct
as guides, puts a man on as good terms with him-
self as to have been in front, let us say, with the
Cottesmore, from Cold Overton to Thorpe Trussels.
As for our nomenclature, it must be conceded that
Nimrod had some cause for surprise. We do use
some rather curious expressions. He himself was
INTRODUCTION 8
doubtless spoken of at the time of his visit, as he
would be were he to appear in Devon to-day, as a
" gentleman from up country." And anyone seeking
to ascertain more definitely his domicile of origin,
would probably be told that he came from " the
other side of London," a locality considered to be
so remote as to put an end to further enquiries.
The country hunted by the South Devon Hounds
is, naturally, not dissimilar in character to the
countries of other hunts in Devon. It has, however,
more variety than some and includes within its
borders a large slice of moorland which is not common
to all. This moorland consists of the eastern portion
of Dartmoor, 1 and is considered to be the best part
of the country. The remainder, called, in contra-
distinction to the Moor, the " in-country," comprises
cultivated lands and woodlands, and also a stretch
of flinty moorland which reaches from two miles
above Teignmouth to within four miles of Exeter,
and is quite separate and different in character from
the Moor proper.
The limits of the South Devon country are treated
of in the Note on the map at the end of this book.
The reader's attention is particularly drawn to the
details in this Note, as I hope that I have succeeded,
after comparison of old sources of information and
personal reference to neighbouring masters and others
entitled to give an authoritative opinion, in settling
a question that has hitherto been somewhat neg-
lected.
With the exception of the level land in the valleys
of the Exe and Teign, which nowadays are very
^ Dartmoor is officially divided into four quarters : North, South, East
and West. The Eastern portion referred to does not correspond exactly
with the Eastern " quarter."
4 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
rarely indeed touched by hounds, the country is,
like the rest of Devon, hilly. The enclosures are
small and separated from each other by banks.
These banks are for the most part big and broad,
giving a good foothold to the horse which does them
" in twice," jumping first to the top and then jump-
ing or sliding down. They have no ditch, and, as
they are often from four to six feet in width and
five or six or more feet in height, one wonders whence
came the material from which they are formed.
Some of them are stone-faced, and nearly all have
a thick hedge of hazel, beech, or other growiih on
the top, and they are formidable -looking obstacles
to those unaccustomed to this type of fence. On
the Moor there are no banks. All the fences there
are walls, built up of loose granite boulders and
stones. Most of them have a gap ; if there is none,
one is easily made by pushing off the smaller stones
which are always on the top. This may not sound
a very heroic proceeding, but it is rendered necessary
by the size of the walls themselves, the gradients
and the risk of landing on a heap of granite boulders.
Besides, we do not all ride three hundred guinea
hunters !
Taken as a whole, the country is a good scenting
one. The range of heath-covered hills known as
Haldon, before referred to, is an exception, the land
being poor and the reverse of good scenting. In-
cidentally, it is also, owing to the sharp flints and
the short dense gorse with which it is covered,
very trying to the feet of hounds. The popular idea
holds that Haldon never carries a scent except when
so wet that the water splashes up in a cloud over
the backs of the hounds as they run. This, like
most other theories in regard to scent, has been
INTRODUCTION 5
disproved on many occasions, though it is probably
true that very wet weatlier generally suits Haldon
better than the other extreme.
One may almost venture to say that on Dartmoor
there is always a scent. The granite foundation is
covered to the depth of many feet by peat and topped
with virgin tm'f. There are no coverts on the Moor,
so foxes lie in the open, either in the bogs, or on the
open heather, or among the rocks with which the
face of the Moor is in many parts thickly strewn.
As a result, a fox often jumps up in view, and goes
away with the pack " right on his back." But these
foxes are very stout, descendants of those " Hectors
of the Moor " that, in days of yore, tested the stamina
of the hounds of Templer and of Bulteel, and they
stand a long time before hounds and frequently make
good their point in some distant tor or clitter of
rocks, secure from spade or terrier. One of these
sanctuaries is the big Rubble-heap at He}i:or, which,
as a valuable nursery, makes compensation for the
runs it robs us of.
One of the curious featiues of the Moor is the
peculiar fascination it exercises over people, hunting
men included. I have known men come down to
South Devon to live, who had been accustomed to
hunting in good, rideable countries, and at first they
feared and hated Dartmoor. The hills, the rocks.
the rabbit holes and the bogs upset them, figuratively
and sometimes literally as well. But as soon as they
have had time to get used to these thincrs. thev come
to love Dartmoor and its hunting as much as we
natives do. Of this sort was a \asitor to Exmoor
that I met out with the Devon and Somerset. He
told me that at home his heart was in his mouth when
he jumped, but that it went back into its place
6 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
between the fences. " But here," he said, "it is
in my mouth all the time." Yet there is a good deal
of difference between Exmoor and Dartmoor. This
difference is neatly, if paradoxically, expressed in
the saying quoted by Mr. Evered in his interest-
ing Staghunting with the Devon and Somerset: " On
Exmoor you can ride everywhere except where you
can't ; on Dartmoor you can't ride anywhere except
where you can." Those who know both forests^ will
appreciate the truth of the contrast.
The country is fairly free from wire, that is, from
hidden wire, although some does exist in places.
This is due doubtless in part to the nature of the
fences, which, as stated, are banks, and in part to
the consideration of the farmers. But in two or
three parts of the country large areas are enclosed
with barbed wire which interferes sadly with the
sport. It is not suggested that this is due to any
active hostility to hunting. The tendency of the
times is for land to get into the hands of successful
business men. Many of these, it is a pleasure to
record, are endowed with quick perceptions which
enable them soon to fill the role of country gentle-
men with credit to themselves and with satisfaction
to their neighbours. There are some, on the other
hand, who seem unable to appreciate that the owner-
ship of land has its obligations, or to realize what is
expected of them in their new position. While
spending largely for benevolent and philanthropic
purposes, they know nothing of the tastes and habits
of country people, or of the great part that hunting
plays in the life of the country-side. They do not
see that, by interfering with a sport that has been
' The forests of Dartmoor and Exmoor, like the Scotch deer forests,
nave no trees.
INTRODUCTION 7
recognized and encouraged by generations of former
owners of their newly acquired acres, they are
depriving the inhabitants, condemned by circum-
stance to Hve at home all the year round, of the one
form of recreation best suited to relieve the monotony
of a somewhat colourless existence.
Reference has been made to the bogs of Dartmoor.
There are two varieties : the wet bog, locally called
a Mire, in the valleys ; and the Bog proper, con-
sisting of dry, powdery peat, on the very summit of
the hills. The latter are worse than the former and
more difficult to distinguish from sound ground.
There are also gradations between the tw^o. I do
not recall ever hearing of any authentic case of a
man or a horse being bogged irretrievably. One
bad experience, among many, occurred with the
Mid-Devon hounds on Boxing Day, 1892. For five
miles we had galloped over sound turf. Then the
character of the ground changed, and the frozen
crust of the bog lured us on for a considerable dis-
tance before we broke through. Soon half a dozen
or more horses were down at once and the plunging
and struggling began. Presently the horses sub-
sided, too blown for further effort, and we were
able to survey the scene. All around, horses in
various positions : one on its side, another sitting
up like a dog, a third with all four legs underground ;
on the edge of the bog, a knot of horsemen who had
pulled up in time, clustered round the " Bishop of
Dartmoor," the Rev. W. H. Thornton, whose ex-
hortation to " come back " we should gladly have
followed if we could ; and, away in the distance, the
pack running on, unattended, into the silence of the
forest.
Meanwhile Mr. Hayter-Hames and Mr. Prickman,
8 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
wide on our left, being only two together, were in a
worse predicament. Here is "Pidgon's"^ vivid de-
scription of what befell the pair :
"... We see them (the hounds) racing over the
Turfties pointing for the Cut, a moorland crossing
between Lydford and Post Bridge. 'Tis a rough bit
of country ; rough at all times, but terrible now in
the hard frost. . . . Shall we try a record run over the
Turfties ? There's a frost and they may keep up ?
Yes, say we ; but yonder hill by Dart Head with
its more than a dozen dismounted riders should have
been a warning. But it isn't, and we only think of
it after, and ' after wit is good for nothing.' Our
blood is up and we dash on a bogland where the peat
stands in beds of ten or twelve feet in depth. The
first ten yards finishes the gallop, the second the
trot, and the third the walk ; then to dismount and
lead, and then horses lose their heads, break the
crust of the peat, and the leading mare is stuck fast
with all four legs, up to her belly in the holding earth.
Now, 'tis off with the saddle, off with the coats, a
pull to and a dig round each leg, and, with coat
underneath, one struggle frees her a little ; then a
readjustment of coats, then another effort by the
gallant beast, and she stands trembling on the bog,
and again the old grey moor has beaten us and
proved herself impassable. . . ." *
The danger of a bog lies in the risk of being struck
or trampled on by a plunging horse.
From the nature of the country and the breed of
foxes to the stamp of hound required is a natural
transition. Here we are at once on debatable
ground. There are those who hold that the best-
1 Our local " Brooksby " : the late Mr. J. D. Prickman.
* WeeUrn Morning News, 28th December, 1892.
IXTRODUCTIOX 9
bred hounds obtainable will answer best in this as
in every other country. Others advocate a harrier
cross. The former point to the number of foxes that
get to ground as proof that well-bred hounds do not
go even fast enough. Those of the other school urge
that the modern foxhound, large of frame and of
immense bone carried right down to the foot, may
do well enough on the moor (if he does not shake
his shoulders to pieces on the rocks), but that he is
unsuited to a country where hounds are continually
being brought to their noses by lanes, arable land
and other impediments ; that he is bred from winners
at Peterborough who win on looks alone ; that,
even if he does come from good working stock,
such stock is precluded by country' and circumstance
from acqiuring, and consequently from transmitting,
the qualities of patience and perseverance in the
necessary degree ; and that it is not so much the
pace that matters as the time that is lost at a check
by overrunning the scent. All these, and others,
are well-known stock arguments and are trotted out
by both sides, who also point to particular examples
in support of their respective theories.
The matter is certainly one of first importance ;
and yet, paradoxically enough, it is one which in
practice may be ignored. For the South Devon
Hunt has no pack of its own, and cannot therefore
presume to dictate to a master who is good enough
to bring his own pack what manner of hound he
should breed. Therefore, though full of interest and
giving scope for a long dissertation, the subject is
one that need not be further pursued here.
With regard to the horse required to cross the
comitry, much must depend on the qualifications
and ambitions of his rider. A lisht-weight will be
10 THE SOrTH DEVON HUXT
wdl earned and see much sport on a well-bred pony.
A pony's activity in gifting np and down steep hills
mose than compensates for his shorter stride. A
hcarier man will, of coarse, need a bigger animaL
but as long as the latter has strength and quality,
the less he is in heig^ the better. *' Long, low and
histy "' was the stamp the late Mr. Whidbome liked
— niien he could get it. dean action and good legs
and feet are rncxe essential here than in many other
coontries, cm acooont of the amount of road-work
oitailed in a days hunting, and in road-work I
include lanes of the roomiest description. Good
bottom is of more importance than speed ; and,
above all, whatever yoa ride must be handy and
must imderstand cramped |daces. For the moor, a
horse cannot be too well-bred, provided he is up
to the wei^t required, temperate and well-mannered.
Theie is a great difference in the way horses get over
the rough ground and rocks cm the moor ; some
pitch and flounder terribly, while others go " like
oiL*' or as if they were on wheels.
Devonshire is a great country for harriers. All
hunting men know the difficulties that sometimes
arise between harries and foxhounds occupying the
same country, thou^ there is no reason why this
should be wbere the masters of both packs are
sportsmen and good fellows. The South Devon
has been particularly fortunate in this respect for
many years past, and the most cordial relations
exist, and have for years existed, between the himt
and the two harrier packs, the Dart Vale and the
Haldon, which share its country.
It is unfortunate that practically none of the large
landowners in the hunt themselves follow hound^s,
though, as a body, they are well disposed towards
rsTiiODUcnoy ii
cuhy for the^LTJa. For. ---~-. wefl djspased
afaoodng tpnaiits may be, they eannct. fr:
nature of tbc case, have ^he izi±^T-:T
landowner. They aze al^: i fiiTii :r_r
nneertamty exists from &r i ; : z t : - s to wfacwa
the tnasto^ wfll have to treat — ." cding tiie
covcits. Some sfaooting texi3--' __— !r*^?e cf
tiie amenities of cuunlry BTt " ~ - ~
their keep^s. Thoe have :
cxBcDent kcep«s in the hnnt, tr_ :~ : .
knofw thev bosiness and study their m :
and at the same time do n' : _ - : .
F<»- an that, the master of i:-
capped who has to deal irh. r- .: -±
coald go direct to the employer.
While on the sobject of kiKpers, it ir ji^
to record that, a good many yeazs a^ot, the i — 2 :
the legal liability of the mas^pr at tha:
"find-money" was actually raised nn-^
the Exet^ Connty Coort. Ci::^zi-T
zr^i not be gcHie into beyond sa~liii: -'z-^t they
- no desire o^ attempt to evade : :«DcaUe
oui-ig;iCian, decsided the wtasfaHr to -^- _ '^r a
tmie payment of eertain Kriyas^ ~r:. .cm.
eonmeneed legal {Htxeedii^ to i\r: : :.t they
ciairaed as doe to than in piii miii :
sent to each one be^oie the se&^
^titingr that finds would be paid i
fox. The keepers lost their case, t. _ -^^
tiiat, apart firun the question of w
any promise to pay. the doii^ of his u-: _. .
in preserving foxes under his rcsster's :
ar
12 THZ SOUTH DEVON HUNT
e:»ntract and c : nvert any such prmnise into a binding
agreement.
The fiumers of South Devon are, afanost without
exeepiMm, fiist^ate fdlows. Ther are large-hearted,
hoqiitaWR and obtigmg, and also very independent.
and expect, and li^itly so, proper recognition and
treatment from the faont. We do not see as many
of tiiem in the field as we should like, and of those
who do fannt a good number find the hairiers. as
being nearer home and entailing less sacrifice of
time, JDCfre conTiraiient than the foxhounds. Xever-
thflfga^ they are stanncfa friemis to foxhunting, and a
claim for compcnsati<Hi fcfr damage to crops or fences
is Tay rare. Poultry, oi coarse, is paid for, and for
this purpose a damage fund exists and is administered
by two or three Tc^unteers in diffoent districts.
Where all are so good, it may seem invidious to
name one individual, yet perhaps the fact of his
being one o€ the oldest tenant farmers in the hunt
justifies menticHi of the case of 3Ir. Daniel Ward-
Wreford as typical of the excellent spirit that prevails.
For thirteen years he farmed at Priestaford, Ash-
burton ; for seven at Prestoncombe, Morleigh ; and
for tbe past twenty-six at Whiteley, Totnes. During
all those years he has never made a claim for damage,
even for loss of poultry, although the coverts on his
farm have always been a sure find. Indeed, it is
his proud boast that he would rather lose a sheep
than a fox or a hare. For he has been a keen hare-
hunter too, and Whiteley has been the popular
fixture of the Dart Vale Harriers on their opening
day during the whole of his long tenancy. On
leaving Priestaford in 1881, he was presented by a
few friends from Ashburton with a silver tea-set as
a mark of their respect and esteem.
I3JT»CH)UCnOX 13
How, m Ib f^ghtirtii jeax^ be iias grrcn «|
B, and tfae i
jltet Vale]
mnBAm td tibe SoiA Dev^
H^nrr
■> flB. *iw*i ■ uu aHKns *f^ PI s ,
7
SO ctaecxnlT^ ^ade ■! ik
m^ lie five to aqay has ~ _
-
Tr-
' "■■b
»
-
* yt
- -
-
-- -
it- Kcm<>«^
~ - '^-~''~- ^ —
- — -"
a. -
-
- ^ • _ -. . ^^ . ._
__ . - _
to
- c - -
w^^
- - - .
;
-
::\
• ^ 77- ::
---
!■:
— _ _
\
-
,_ :
-'
:jtd
-
■*
"■ -
■ ., _.
_
• _ 1 :
: _ . _ -T
^„_.„,.
~
A--
-
-
14 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
the People's Budget, "The money must be got";
but the way of its getting is not an aspect of the
Sport of Kings that needs to be perpetuated.
Personall}', I agree with the vie\v of Mr. Reginald
Herbert, of the Monmouthshire, that for a member
of the field to separate himself furtively from his
fellows, and go round ^vith the hat, brings the thing
down very nearly to the level of a German band.
But I suppose that as long as there are people who
are willing to enjoy their sport at the expense of
others, these things must be done. Only, let us as
soon as possible forget that they are done.
The climate of South Devon, being of the type
dubbed " salubrious " by the house agents, some-
times brings hunting people from further north for
reasons of health. Such always find, as indeed does
any stranger or visitor from a neighbouring hunt,
a cordial welcome from master and field. But for
the most part, the fields consist of the ordinary
inhabitants of the locality.
It is to the credit of the South Devon Hunt, that,
during an existence of over a hundred years, there
has been only one season when it was without a
master, and that was the season of 1826-7 after the
unexpected collapse of the Stover establishment
under George Templer. It is true that at times
certain parts of the country have been more or less
derelict for a short period, but that was only due
to the immense extent of the country and to the
particular situation of the kennels at the moment.
Of late years, any such outlying portions have wisely
been either hunted separately or loaned to other
packs, with the result, as James Pigg would say, of
"keeping the tambourine a-rolling" throughout the
wide dominions of the South Devon Hunt.
INTRODUCTION 15
These divisions and temporary loans of country
have occasioned some difficulty in deciding upon the
arrangement of chapters which follow. The fact
that more than one pack may have been operating
at the same time in different parts of the hunt is an
objection to the otherwise obvious arrangement of
devoting a separate chapter to each master. Any
other arrangement, however, was found on considera-
tion to be open to still greater objections, so that,
while conscious of its somewhat inartistic effect, I
have decided to adopt, as far as possible, the one
master, one chapter scheme.
One of the main objections to this scheme lies in
the fact of its not fitting in with the periods into
which the history is divided. This is due to the
country, after division, having been reunited under
a master (Dr. Gaye) who had presided for some
years over one only of the two separate packs between
which the country was for a time apportioned. Yet
some division into periods was necessary on account
of the break in the continuity of the mastership of
the country as a whole and of the confusing changes
in the names of the two packs under the dual arrange-
ment. Despite this obvious drawback, the division
into the three periods selected, viz. "The Original
Country," "Partition" and "Reunion," appears to
be less objectionable than any other. It should be
noted that, in order to avoid complication and
confusion, the country has been treated as parti-
tioned only while the Haldon side was separately
hunted as an entire and self-contained country ;
mere temporary loans of the Haldon or other portions
to hunts which had also other country beyond the
borders of the South Devon are treated as loans and
not as a division of country and are dealt with under
16 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
the chapters devoted to the master in whose time
such loans were made or renewed. The country
now hunted by the Mid-Devon has also, for reasons
which appear in Chapter XVIII, been treated on a
distinct footing.
These very complexities constitute in a great
measure the raison d'etre of the history, the object
of which has been to present to the reader, even at
some sacrifice of symmetry and sequence, an accurate
and clear statement of varying changes of name and
scene. In this, the Chronological Table should be
of material help.
I
THE ORIGINAL COUNTRY
GEORGE lEMPLEE OF STOVER
To fofA jioge 1&
CIL\PTER I
GEORGE TEMPLER OF STO\'ER : 18— to 1826
Sto-
:-l
and R
IS Oia Z-ZTD..
-Hii ;-.-•:
" I sing of a party aasembJed at Stover
To hunt in tbe momii^ and feast whai 'twas over."
{A Party ^ Stovfr. By Geo. Templer, 1823.)
TO the accomplished George Templer of Stover
belongs the distinction of having been the master
of the first regular pack of foxhounds that hunted the
country- which in later years came to be known as
" The South Devon,"' It is known that hounds existed
in the countiy before his day, for his uncle, the
Reverend John Templer of Lindridge, kept a pack at
that place, but a great -grandnephew of the latter,
Captain J. G. E. Templer. the present owner of Lind-
ridge, tells me he has always understood that the
Lindridge hounds were harriers, though, he adds, they
probably hunted '*an\i:hing that jumped up." The
Lindridge kennels were near the house, in what until
quite recently was called the Kennel Pit, lately con-
verted into a rock garden and christened '* The Dell.''
19
20 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
George Templer was the eldest son of James
Templer, whose father, also James, built Stover
House, some two miles from Newton Abbot. James
was a lineal descendant of the Colonel Templer who
was in the service of the Prince of Orange and took
part in the memorable expedition of 1688 and also in
the war of 1691. This Colonel Templer died, at
Exeter, so poor that liis son Thomas took to business
in that city. Thomas had a large family, the youngest
of whom, James, made a fortune and built Stover
House.
George Templer was bom in or about the year 1781
and was educated at Westminster. Mr. Da\'ies speaks
of him as a gentleman of brilliant intellect and most
charming manner. ^ Poet and wit, scholar and sports-
man as he was, there is ever\^ justification for the
prefix accorded to him at the beginning of this
chapter and usually associated with his name.
Listen to the words of a chronicler- who knew
him well. He introduces him as " the favoured and
favourite sportsman — everywhere and anywhere —
the accomplished George Templer of Stover." He
says :
" To enlarge upon his several excellencies, his
amiability, the sincerity of his friendship and bene-
volence of disposition, adorned by a graceful erudi-
tion, and enhvened by a playful wit that made him
the charm of society, is but to repeat an oft-told tale.
. . . Those with whom he was wont to associate in
jocund famiharity little judged that they were in
contact with an intellect imbued with natural powers
of the highest excellence. . . . Amongst sportsmen the
name of Templer is as a household word, and never
1 Z/t/e 0/ the Rev. J. RixsseU. By the Rev. E. W. L. Davies.
* Christopher Arthur Harris.
GEORGE TEMPLER OF STO\^R 21
uttered without the sincere tribute of regret at his
early departure from amongst them. . . . The epoch
of George Templer of Stover, on many accounts and
for many a long year will be the ' Alba not a ' in the
sporting annals of Devonshire ; for there was a
graceful individuality that belonged to the man,
combined with unusual attainments, that would
have made him remarkable at any time."^
It is difficult at tliis distance of time to ascertain
with any certainty the date when Templer first
hunted the country. It was certainly prior to 1810,
in which year it is on record that the Duke of Rut-
land had a draft from the Stover kennels.- The
fact that this was one of the only tlu-ee occasions
of the Belvoir purchasing drafts from other packs
is eloquent testimony to Templer's judgment and to
the superior type of hound that he bred. It also
shews clearly that he must at that time have been
keeping hounds for some years for his pack to have
reached so high a standard.
In the Appendix to liis interesting History of the
Beh'oir Hunt Mr. Dale mentions, after the entry
for 1810, " Ten couple of hounds bought by
IVIr. Templer." This is a misprint for '* bought o/."
The late Master of the Belvoir, Lord Robert Manners,
very kindly confirms this in a letter in which he
tells me, quoting from the Journal of the Operations
of the Belvoir Houjids for the year 1810 by Shaw,
the then huntsman, that Mr. Templer's draft con-
sisted of entered hounds of from two to five seasons.
Lord Robert adds :
" Under date August 16th Shaw writes : ' Mr. Templer's
hounds arrived on Wednesday. They are all very lame from
^ Letiirs on the past and prestiit Faifiound^s cf Devotishire. 1361.
C. A. Harris. * Kings of the Hunting Field. Thonnsmby.
22 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
having travelled s^; fir in a div. I likr their appearance.
They are a go>i ii2±, and q'-uir the ^-m ci the Belvoir
Homids.' Oct: ber ICrth. In his czniment en 3 hird w>:d-
land day he wiites : I d: nii dish^e Yen: Graces new
hooiids. I obserred s:nie :: ihem c-ome nrst ^v:th ihe scent
and hnntiTig in a very r : >i style, vizt: StriTer. Lather,
Mmtgant, Bhyhffl, F ~ . ' er. Xestor, Guider.
Chaster.. Frantic, Ra^ -: .__ :_. . ~ere Mr. Templer's.
R. M.J
~ I may add that he had out 47 ooiqJe that day, inchidiiig
19^ ooof^ of voonff hoaods and 9 eoople of Mr. Templers
draft!"
After that, it is a iittle disappointing to find that
eventually only 3J cooqple were kept, the remainder
being drafted as too hi^ in the leg. But then, 'tis
said, they have always been so " mighty particular *'
at Belvoir, that a hound is drafted even for scratch-
ing himself!
In connection with the draft sent to Belvoir, it is
interesting to read- that the stamp of hound in the
Stover kennel was an index of the taste and habits
of the master. They were handsome, symmetrical
with great roundness of loin, and with necks, heads
and countenances " that would have satisfied Os-
baldeston himself," and their condition added greatly
to their appearanc-e and, doubtless, also to their per-
formance. There was always a strong Beaufort
strain and 3Ir. Templer has expressed his admiration
of the Badminton hoimds in many of his poems.
The name of George Templer with the device
Templa quam dilecia appeared over one of the stalls
of a certain quaint temple of fame kno\s-n as St.
Hubert's HaD. This '" Hall " consisted of an ancient
stone quarry in the grounds at Ha>Tie near Stow-
» Lmen •m^pm^amd pnaemt Fmkomit «^XIi mmikiu.
C. ^ ELr.
ft.
GEORGE TEMPLER OF STOVER 23
ford, formerly the seat of the Harris (now Mohun-
Harris) family, shadowed and overhung by trees,
and hollowed out and paved, with rustic stalls formed
of blocks and slabs of Dartmoor granite arranged
round the circular enclosure. Each of the twenty-
three stalls was dedicated to a famous foxhunter of
the day.^
The following extract from a hitherto unpublished
letter, written in 1863 by the Reverend John Russell
— " Jack Russell " — to Mr. Christopher Arthur Harris
of Hayne, shews the high opinion the writer had of
Templer as a sportsman.
" I think the Duke of Beaufort is the best sportsman I
ever saw. I say ' I think,' because during poor, dear George
Templer' s lifetime I was not — could not be — so good a
judge of the Noble Science &c. &c. &c. as I may be at this
present writing. There would be, however, only two or
three pounds between them, I fancy ; the latter was the
best man over a country, and, even in Devonshire, saw
every turn hounds made. ..."
Nimrod, too, makes honom-able mention of the
first master of the South Devon.
" The West of England," he writes, " produces
two very good riders — Imprimis — the well known
George Templer, one of the cleverest sportsmen of
the age ; and his friend, ^Ir. Henry Taylor, who
officiated as whipper-in to him when I visited his
country. He was a surprizing man, as the saying is,
to get across that awkward country, Devonshire."
There was a tradition, when I was a boy, that on
one occasion Templer rode his horse in cold blood
over the toll gate of the Teignmouth and Shaldon
Bridge, and that the formidable chevaux - de -frise
^ Letters on the past and present Foxhounds of Devonshire.
24 THE SOUTH DEVON HI'XT
arrangement with which the gate remained adorned
until within the last half-dozen years was erected
to deter imitators I
Xot onlv was Templer the founder of the South
Devon Hunt, but he was also the first in South Devon,
as his oreat friend Lord Portsmouth, better known
as the Honourable Xewton Fellowes, was the first
HI North Devon, to introduce a quicker and more
modem st^*le of hunting than had previously been
In vogue in the West.^ At one time, Templer had
charge of and hunted the Eggesford Pack for his
friend.
Templer's was evidently one of those natures that
have a pecuHar s^-mpathy with, and resultant con-
trol over, animals. Nimrod makes mention of a
tame jackal as one of the features of the Stover
estabhshment, and another feature was a monkey
trained by Templer to follow hounds, properly
turned out en tenue rouge, strapped on the back of an
old hunter. >Ir. Reginald Templer of Teignmouth,
a nephew of George Templer, told me that he had
often heard his father describe the performance, and
how the poor monkey's career ended through his
being killed by a blow from a swinging gate. Stranger
still is the record of Templer hunting hare in Stover
Park -jciih a pack of foxes. -
It is little wonder, then, to find all authorities
arri\-ing at the same appreciation of his manage-
ment in the field and his wonderful power over his
hounds. Even»' inflexion of his voice, ever\- note of
his horn, we are told, was intelligible to them, and
a wave of his hand was instantly and readily obeyed.
It is said that the hunting powers of a pack were
1 BaO^t Magazine, VoL 20 (Oct. 1573), p. 145.
■ I^tten on Ike paat amd present FozhourAi oj Dtvor^ihirt.
GEORGE TEMPLER OE STO\"ER 25
never seen in greater perfection than with the Stover
hounds under the guidance of the "" memorable
triumvirate " — Templer, Taylor and Russell. The
two latter, nominally whippers-in, would on occasion
encoiuracfe the hounds at a check to cast themselves
in different directions : a '' brilliant irregularity.*'
as it has been called, that would be fatal in any but
master hands.
But George Templer introduced something even
more remarkable than a quicker style of huntmg.
The system, which is fully described by Ximrod^
and Davies, - was unique in the history of foxhunting,
although the principle underlying it had at that time
already been adopted by the Royal Buckhounds.
It consisted in turning out before the hounds,
when they failed to find the wild animal, a fox
drawn from a reserve of a score or so, kept in two
large yards at Stover, where each had his own kennel
to which he was fastened by a long chain revolving
on a swivel so as to ensure the animal getting plenty
of exercise.
The fox to be hunted was turned down in view,
some twenty yards in front of the pack. Templer
standing among the hounds, watch in hand to ensure
fair law being allowed. So great was his control
over the hounds that not one would stir until he
gave the signal. One hound, Guardsman by name,
had become so knowing that he would keep his eye
on the watch and dash away the moment the case
closed with a snap.
The great object then, and also when himting a
wild fox, was to catch the fox ahve, which was done
by picking him up by his brush after he had been
fairly run down. This naturally gave rise to very
1 Ximrod's flimliinj Tour*. » Lij-: :f :.v E-:':. J . B'.^s?iZ.
26 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
hard riding on the part of Templer and his two
friends Taylor and Russell, and also of certain
members of the field who had become proficient in
this unusual accomplishment. So successful were
they, and such was the discipline of the pack, that
it rarely happened that the fox was not saved un-
harmed and untouched by the hounds. One dark-
coloured fox, christened the Bold Dragoon, was
turned out thirty-six times before the season of
1824r-5 and was then still on the active list. He
nearly always gave a good run, and on his return
home at night never went into his kennel "s\nthout
taking with him his supper consisting of half a
rabbit and some kennel-meat without flesh, or,
failing the rabbit, a small portion of flesh.
To hunt these bag-foxes Templer kept a separate
pack, nicknamed the " Let-'em-alones," consisting
of dwarf foxhounds^ averaging nineteen inches at the
shoulder. Xot^vithstanding the system in vogue,
these hounds are stated- to have been capital hunters,
very quick, and a very hard driving lot. What is
remarkable, too, is that they could kill foxes when
suffered to do so ; and once while at North Molton
during the Chumleigh week they killed three brace
of foxes — wild moorland foxes — in four days.
These hounds were professedly foxhounds, inas-
much as they hunted nothing but fox ; yet they
^ I am aweire that this pack has sometimes been described as " beagles "
or *' well-bred little beagles/' Mr. Da\ies, however (Lije of Russell) de-
scribes them as nineteen-inch f cxhoimds, and as he was a friend of Templer's,
and was intimate with Russell and Taylor and others of their period, there
is httle doubt he is right. See also his mention at page 30 of their dis-
persal ; the account in Appendix A of a run in 1823 ; the letter at page 27
from Jack Russell ; and the reference on that page to Nimrod's Hunting
Tour$.
» Lt/e o/ th€ Bev. J. Rusedl. Ximrod's Hunting Tours. Both these
works contain a full description of the system.
THE REV. J. RUSSELL
To face paje -26
THE REV. H. TAYLOR
To face page 27
GEORGE TEMPLER OF STO\^R 27
were not all pure foxhounds, for it would have been
impossible, without travelling to all the kennels in
England, to get them all pure-bred foxliounds,
having regard to Templer's standard size, \-iz. not
exceedincr nineteen inches. ^ This is confirmed in an
unpublished letter from Jack Russell to his friend
Christopher Arthur Harris, in which he says he
believes Templer did not breed one of his " Let-'em-
alones " ; that many came from his uncle's kennel
at Lindridge, many from King (who at that time
kept harriers) ; that all Templer's friends, J. P.
Gilbert and John Bulteel among the number, who
possessed " Lilliputians,"' contributed to keep up
his pack ; and that Mr. Yeatman (the Reverend
Harry Farr Yeatman, who at that time hunted
hare, fox or roe-deer in what is now Blackmore Vale
country), also sent him many.
From some of these hounds, too, was bred the
pack known in 1850 as The Forest Harriers,
which hunted Skerraton Do^vn, Dean Moors, Hanger
Down and the Forest of Dartmoor. These Harriers
were the property of ^Ir. Servington-Savery, who
was a Deputy Ranger of the Forest. -
Ximrod, who went on a %isit to Stover and hunted
with Templer on the 27th September, 1824, makes
some interesting observations on the hmitinop of the
bag-fox.
'• Some thoroughbred foxhuntcrs," he writes, " may
say there is too much of the bag about Mr. Templer's
hunting. This we must all admit ; but in such a
country as Devonshire, exceptions to rules and
customs may be allowed ; and to insure sport by
any means is the grand object. If a covert prove
^ Nimrod, op. cii.
* Fores's Guide to the Hounds cj England. 1S50. By G^Iert iThe
Bev. E. W. L. Davies).
28 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
blank in many countries, it is nearly as good as a
middling chase to trot away for two or three miles,
over hedge and ditch and try another ; but to be
trotting up and down the Devonshires lanes for half
the day would be anything but agreeable. . . . Mr.
Templer rides hard, and had six very clever horses
for his own riding, four of which he bred by Czar
Peter and Colossus, horses in Mr. Fellowes' stud."
Of Templer's comrades of the chase, of the Bul-
teels, of Jack Russell, of Paul Ourry Treby, of
Salusbury Trelawny, of Harris of Hayne, of gallant
Tom Phillips and others, much of interest will be
found in the works of authorities enumerated at
the beginning of this book. Some of them are also
mentioned in the account of a run in 1823 given in
the Appendix.^
Mention has been made of the hunting of hares in
Stover Park with a pack of foxes. Another unusual
procedure, the coursing of rabbits with foxes and
terriers, is thus described in a letter, hitherto unpub-
lished, of Jack Russell, written in 1863 to his friend
C. A. Harris. He says :
" Templer had three or four — certainly three — foxes to
which, with his terriers, he used to shoot (and course) rabbits
and hares too, I suppose, when he found them — but the
coursing was performed in this way : A keeper was sent to
ferret and take alive as many rabbits as he could. These
were brought in a bag to the door of the house, when the
party within were summoned to see the fun. The keeper
carried the bag containing the rabbits some two or three
hundred yards away, the foxes and terriers were brought
out, and a rabbit ' enlarged,' and off went the lot after it.
As soon as the rabbit was caught and taken from them,
they all rushed back to the bag, waiting for another course.
But if a fox was first up it was a difficult matter to catch
^ Appendix A.
GEORGE TEMPLER OF STOVER 29
him, as he always started to bury his prey. The foxes never
turned the rabbit they caught, but invariably ran up to and
seized him ; but if a terrier was first up, the contrary was
the case, the rabbit always turned before the dog seized
him."
At last Templer's generosity and unbounded
hospitality, combined with unfortunate speculation
which included the granite tramway (many parts of
which are still extant) constructed from Heytor to
the Stover Canal, so crippled the handsome fortune
with which he started in life, that he was compelled
to sell Stover and to give up his hounds. Rightly
or wrongly, he attributed his failure to the dishonesty
of a certain lawyer whom he anathematizes in un-
measured terms in a well-known poem of his, " The
Attorney." As one can forgive the bitterness which
prompted that caustic satire, so also can one sym-
pathize with the desolation of the man's spirit in
his ride to Exeter on taking final leave of his
home, as revealed in his hitherto unpublished poem :
On looking back from Haldon for the last time on
Stover :
" Stover, farewell ! Still fancy's hand shall trace
Thy pleasures past in all their former grace ;
And I will wear and cherish, though we part,
The dear remembrance ever at my heart.
" Not as the hare whom hounds and horn pursue
In timid constancy I cling to you ;
But, like the bolder chase, resolved, I fly.
That where I may not live I will not die."
Stover was purchased by the then Duke of Somer-
set, and in February, 1826, Templer parted with his
hounds. The big pack went to the Reverend Harry
Farr Yeatman of Stock House, Dorsetshire ; the
30 THE SOLTH DEVON HUNT
smaller hounds, including the far-famed '' Let-'em-
alones," were scattered among different buyers,
including Sir Henrv Carew. Mr. Hammett Drake,
Mr. Worth of Worth, and Mr. Hole of Georgeham.
Manv were afterwards followed up and got together
bv the Reverend J. Russell and Mr. Arthur Harris
of HajTie to help in forming the pack with which
they shewed such extraordinary^ sport over the Tet-
cott and Pencarrow countries in 1828-30.^
Templer then went abroad.
*' And, now, Remorse I with thee prepared to go,
These scenes I leave for wider fields of woe,
On foreign shores unheeded tears to shed
For bygone bliss and brighter moments fled."-
Upon his return, a year or so later, he set about
building that beautiful house, Sandford Orleigh,
commanding the full stretch of the tidal portion of
the River Teign on one side, and facing the tors of
Dartmoor on the other.
It was apparently in Templer's day that the
Devon Foxhunting Club was founded, under the
auspices of which different packs assembled at
Chumleigh in North Devon several times in a season
to hunt between them for a week or ten days con-
secutively. These " Chumleigh Meetings " brought
together all the best Devon sportsmen of the day
and were festive and jo^-ial gatherings. It was at
one of them, when Newton Fellowes was in the
chair, that Templer recited his Fare-jcell to my old
Horn, which is given at the beginning of this
volume.
Such was the affection in which Templer was
held, that we are told that when he had finished
i Lift o/ rA^e Ser. /. E-jnifJ}..
» On lookiruj bock Jrvrn Haidon Jor tAe lout tirnf. on Stover.
GEORGE TEMPLER OF STOVER 31
his " Farewell," there was not a dry eye among all
the company of stalwart sportsmen there assembled.
The original old horn is now in the possession of
Captain J. G. E. Templer of Lindridge, to whom it
passed on the death, only some two years ago, of
George Templer's last surviving daughter. As will
be seen from the frontispiece, it was of the old bugle
pattern which, with the curved or crescent-shaped
horn, had in most places been supplanted by the
straight horn before the year 1826. It seems to
have taken about half a century to complete the
change, for, while the old pattern was used by
Templer up to 1826, the straight horn was known
to Beckford, whose allusion^ to it appears to imply
that it was not an entire novelty at the time he
wrote (1781). Indeed, the process of evolution
towards the present straight type may have taken
even longer, unless Blaine ^ was very far behind the
times. Speaking of the desirability of a huntsman
being good on the horn, he says : " We do not mean
the straight horn of Mr. Beckford, but the true fox-
hunting bugle . . ." and the passage is illustrated
by a woodcut representing a curved or crescent-
shaped horn suspended from a cord or baldrick.^
Mr. Templer married a daughter of Sir John
Kennaway, Bart., of Escot, Devon. Mr. Reginald
Templer told me that his death was the result of an
injury in the hunting-field. He was taken first to
the hospital at Ne\\i:on Abbot, or to the building
that then did duty as such, and thence to Sandford
1 Thoughts on Hunting, Letter VI. And see Daniel's Rural Sports,
1801-2.
* Encyclopcedia of Rural Sports. 1840.
^ An excellent article on Hunting-herns Ancient and Modern from
the well-known pen of Mr. H. A. Bryden appeared in the Field of 11th
October, 1913.
32 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
Orleigh, where he died shortly after, in December,
1843, at the age of sixty- two.
He is buried in the family vault under the little
church at Teigngrace, within a gunshot of Stover
Park, the scene of his former glories and the home
he had loved so well.
Riding past the spot recently on my way back
from hunting, the inspiration came to me to visit
the tomb of this great sportsman. The church is
full of tablets to the memory of departed Templers,
but the caretaker knew at once which I wanted.
" You mean the Squire — Squire Templer, Sir," and
he pointed out the simple tablet recording George
Templer's open-handed charity to the poor, and
shewed me where his body lies under the church,
adding : " He was a great sportsman, wasn't he.
Sir ? "
Is it fanciful to hope that the spirit of the de-
parted sportsman-poet was not insensible to the
presence of his visitor, probably the first for the past
seventy years to approach his resting-place in the
scarlet uniform of the chase ?
" Thou art gone, — all lowly laid,
Gentle may thy portion be,
And as thou hast done and said,
Be it even unto thee.
Fare thee well, — the shadows fall,
Tree and turret bear the pall,
Veiling the empurpled wall
Of the solitary hall."i
• Stover. From an "In Memoriam " verse at the end of Letters on
the past and present Foxhounds of Devonshire.
JOHN KING OP FOWLESCOMBE
2'o face page 33
CHAPTER II
JOHN KING OF FOWLESCOMBE: 1827-9
A misconception — Its origin — Mr. Reginald Templer's explanation — Harris's
description of master and pack — " Mr. King's Hounds " — Country-
hunted — Fixtures — Sir Walter Carew's hunting journal — Record of
sport — Hunting from Chumleigh — Additional fixtures — Visit of Bulteel's
Hounds — Probable inauguration of the Ivybridge week — A long draw —
Some hunting men of that day — Mr. Pode of Slade — King takes the
Hambledon — A serious accident — Founder of the Hambledon Hunt
Club — The New Sporting Magazine — King of Fowlescombe identical
with King of Corhampton — Story of a mallard — The South Devon
Harriers — Death in the saddle on Dartmoor,
" When all have great merit 'twould be hard to begin.
If precedence belonged not of course to a King ;
In royalty's person you seldom will find,
A good fellow and sportsman together combined ;
One exception there is, for of sportsmen the best,
And a hearty good soul, is John King of the West."
{A Party at Stover.)
AFTER the break up of the Stover estabhsh-
jl\. ment in 1826, the country appears to have
been without hounds, so far as a regular pack is
concerned, for a season. In 1827, Mr. John King of
Fowlescombe re-established the pack. I have not
been able to ascertain where King kennelled his
hounds. He came originally from Fowlescombe,
and at one time lived at Holne, as is shewn by the
following lines :
" Then slowly o'er the heath and fern
In deep content the hunters turn ;
But King, at Holne, would bid them stay
To cheer them on their homeward way."^
* Dartmoor Days.
^ 33
34 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
I have also seen it stated that at one time he
lived at Spitchwick. But one has only to glance
through the list of his fixtures ^ to see that from
no one of the three places named could he have
hunted the country he did. My own impression,
derived from the fact that Sir Walter Carew's diary,
presently referred to, covers the whole of King's
mastership, is that the pack was then kennelled at
Haccombe. This, however, is purely conjecture.
It has repeatedly been stated in print that Sir
Walter Carew was George Templer's immediate
successor in the mastership. The assertion probably
had its origin in a footnote to Templer's Farewell
to My Old Horn, which states that the following
verse was — as no doubt it was in fact — an allusion
to Sir Walter Carew :
" I, too, the fading wreath resign,
For friends and fame are fleeting.
Around his bolder brow to twine
Where younger blood is beating."
But, whatever its origin, the statement is not correct,
inasmuch as King's two seasons' mastership inter-
vened between those of Templer and Carew. This
we know for certain from Sir Walter Carew's own
hunting journal, where he tells us that " Mr. King
kept the hounds the first two seasons (1827-8 and
1828-9) contained in this list ; I took the country
and commenced hunting it in 1829."
Quite accidentally I stumbled on what I think is
the explanation of Templer's allusion to Sir Walter
as his successor. In recent conversation, the late
Reginald Templer, a nephew of George Templer,
mentioned casually that the Farewell was written
1 See p. 36.
JOHN KING OF FOWLESCOMBE 35
after George Templer^s return from abroad, when
Sir Walter was just about to take on the hounds
from King. That (and poetical licence in ignoring
the intervening master) would reconcile the allusion
with the facts. I am also inclined to suspect, from
the fact that Sir Walter did not come of age until
1828 and that his journal covers the whole of King's
two seasons, that the last-named was to some extent
acting as a warming-pan for his successor. We get
an idea of the master and of his pack from the follow-
ing :
" The late Mr. John King of Fowlescombe was an
able sportsman. His hounds were rather lighter
than those which meet with most consideration at
the present time (1861), yet neatly proportioned and
not deficient in power, and withal most true and
efficient hunters. He maintained the principle that
hounds should account for their fox with as little
assistance as possible, and work out their own
success. Naturally shrewd and observing, as dwellers
and frequenters of the moor usually are, he was fully
cognisant of the nature and habits of the wild
animal he pursued, and when he did render assistance
to his favourites it was invariably to the purpose, and
followed by happy results." ^
The pack went by the name of " Mr. King's
Hounds, "2 and we can gather the extent of country
hunted from the entries in Sir W'alter Carew's
hunting journal, ^ which, as already stated, includes
the period of King's mastership. Here is a list of
his fixtures during the season 1827-8 :
^ Letters on the past and present Foxhounds of Devonshire.
* See Hunting Appointments in Trewman's Exeter Flying Post of the
period.
* See next chapter, p, 46.
36
THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
*' Aurora " Wood
(later " Rora ")
'' Sir Thomas Acland's "
(Killerton)
Bagtor
Bellamarsh
Berry
Bovey
Bovey Potteries
Bradley
Canon Teign
Castle Dyke
The Castle, Haldon (pre-
sumably the Belvidere)
Chudleigh Bridge
Cotley Wood
Dartington
Duckaller
Haccombe
Haldon Race Stand
Haytor Rock
Holne Chase
Ilsom (Ilsham, Torquay)
Ilsington
Luscombe
Mamhead
New Inn
Nitton Heathfield
(now Knighton H.)
Ogwell
Park House, Bovey
Pear Tree
Sands
Stoke Cliffs
(Stokeinteignhead)
Stover
Skerraton
Tor Bryan
AMiiteway
Yarner Wood
Naturally, the country actually hunted extended in
several directions beyond these points, which shew
only the actual fixtures. For instance, when the pack
met at Cotley on the 14th September and had a
capital run to Great Fulford, we are not told where
they found, which might have been further north
even than Cotley Wood. On the 18th September,
after they had met at Dartington and killed a fox,
another was found at Luscombe, now in the Dart-
moor country. Again, on the 3rd May, 1828, when
the fixture was Haytor Rock, they found " near
Widdicombe."
Sir Walter Carew's journal for this season (1827-8)
shews that good runs were by no means infrequent.
In some cases the locality of the finish is indicated,
shewing that good points were made, as on the 4th
JOHN KING OF FOWLESCOMBE 37
February, 1828, " Found at ^Miiteway, killed at
Powderham," or, again, Friday, February 22nd,
" At Chudleigh Bridge ; a bagman ; killed at Bag-
tor ; capital run." I shall have something to say as
to this particular breed of bagmen in the next
chapter. Again : " Wednesday, 12th March. At
Duckailer," near Starcross ; " a good run to Duns-
ford," though in this case we are not told where
they found. Then, " Tuesday, April 1st. A bagman
at Stover ; ran to Lustleigh ; earthed." Finally,
" Monday, 12th ^lay. At Yarner Wood : found
on the Down ; ran through Lustleigh to the covers
behind Bovey ; earthed."
King began cubhunting on the 29th August, 1827,
and hunted right through the season to the end of
May, the last day being on the 26th of that month,
during which period he put in seventy-six hunting
days. Eleven and a half brace of foxes including
three bagmen were killed, and there were eighteen
blank days. During each of the months of October,
November and December, the pack hunted two days
from Chumleigh in North Devon.
In King's second season (1828-9) we find the
following additional fixtures : Longwood, Gudring-
ton, Buckland Beacon, Hennock, Oxton, Kings-
carsewell and Sir Stafford Northcote's (Pynes). These
places of meeting do not indicate any extension of
the country previously hunted, unless an exception
be made in the case of the last on the list, at which,
however, hounds met on only one day, as was the
case with regard to the Killerton fixture in the
previous season. It would seem, however, to shew
that both Killerton and Pynes were within the
country hunted by ^Ir. King.
In those hospitable days an interchange of visits
38 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
between neighbouring hunts was popular. Thus in
1828 we find Mr. Bulteel's (now the Dartmoor)
meeting on the 5th and 7th November at Bella-
marsh and Duckaller respectively, on the latter
occasion scoring a run over Haldon to Chudleigh,
characterized in the journal as a " very slow "
one. In return, Mr. King's hounds met at Ivybridge
and Slade on the 26th and 28th of the same month.
This was probably the beginning of the Ivybridge
Week, which has been kept up to the present day.
This season does not appear to have been a
remarkable one for sport in general. The following
are the only entries that seem worth transcribing
from the journal. It will be seen that in all these
cases a good point was made and a kill scored.
Other good runs are mentioned but no details given.
" Nov. 17th, 1828. At Haccombe. Earthed ; dug
him out. 22nd. Turned out the Haccombe fox
on the Heathfield ; caught him in a stable at Teign-
mouth ; beautiful run."
" Saturday, 7th March. At Aurora Wood. Capital
run to Holne Chace ; killed."
" Sat. 21st March. At Yarner Wood. Found on the
Common ; beautiful run to Holne Chace ; killed."
The last entry for the season is April 27th, when
they met at Buckland Beacon and apparently drew
the whole way to Stover before finding.
The record of killed for the season is twenty-one
foxes, of which six were bagmen. Out of seventy-
five hunting days nine were blank.
Mr. J. H. Ley of Trehill has in his possession
some doggerel rhymes, dated 1828, which shew that
the following were among the regular followers of
Mr. King's hounds on Haldon. Sir W. Carew ; Mr.
Hole of Parke ; Mr. Kitson of Shiphay ; Mr. W.
JOHN KING OF FOWLESCOMBE 39
Ley of Woodlands, Clerk to the House of Commons ;
Mr. H. Ley, Rector of Kenn ; Mr. Short of Bick-
ham ; Mr. Stowey of Kenbury ; Mr. Burlton of
Exminster ; Mr. Eales of Easton ; Mr. Makepeace ;
Mr. St. Leger, grandfather of the present Lord
Doneraile, and Mr. Quenton.
When Mr. Pode of Slade gave up hunting, his
country — virtually the Dartmoor country of to-day
— was taken over by King and Bulteel. We are
told that this was "somewhere about the year
1828," 1 and that the partnership was merely tem-
porary, Bulteel succeeding to the country and taking
the hounds of Mr. Pode. The real date would
doubtless have been 1829, after King gave up the
South Devon country. In that year he migrated
to Hampshire, and was master of the Hambledon
Hounds from 1829 to 1841. ^ He appears to have
been a great success in that country and to have
shewn excellent sport, notwithstanding a serious
accident that befell him in 1832, when his horse fell
on him, which interfered a good deal with his riding
for some time afterwards. He was the founder of
the Hambledon Hunt Club.^ Honourable mention
of him in prose and verse appeared from time to
time in the New Sporting Magazine of the period.
I learn from Miss Turner, Hon. Secretary of
the Hambledon Hunt, that, while in Hampshire,
King lived at Corhampton, a village close to Drox-
ford. This explains the fact of his being sometimes
spoken of as " of Corhampton." But to us in the
West he remained to the end John King of Fowles-
combe. When he gave up the Hambledon on account
^ Letters on the past and present Foxhounds of Devonshire, p. 46.
* Baily's Hunting Directory.
^ Fores's Guide, p. 36.
40 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
of ill health, he placed in the hands of his successor,
Mr. Long, fifty-five couple of as fine bitches as ever
entered a covert.^
The following incident gives a note of King's
character. A friend of Jack Russell's, in the pre-
sence of Lord Henry Bentinck, told how King, when
master of the Hambledon, once saw a hunted fox
dash into a flock of ducks and seize and carry off a
mallard which was subsequently picked up by King
when the fox was run into. Lord Henry ventured
to doubt the truth of the story, and had for
answer : " I had the pleasure of knowing Mr. King
intimately, and he was a man quite as unlikely to
tell an untruth as your lordship." ^
He was not the only hunting member of his
family, for his nephew Thomas King at one time
kept a pack known as the South Devon Harriers,
hunting the parishes of North Huish, Diptford and
Marley.3
John King died in the saddle while out with Mr.
Trelawny's hounds on Dartmoor in 1841.*
^ Fores's Guide for 1850.
- Life of the Rev. J. Russell.
* Fores'a Guide for 1850.
* Life of the Rev. J. Russell.
SIR WALTER PALK CAREW, BART.
To face page 41
CHAPTER III
SIR WALTER PALK CAREW, BART.: 1829-43
Popularity — A contemporary appreciation — Kennels at Haccombe and
Marley — Sir Henry Seale at Haccombe : quotations from his unpub-
lished letters — Limits of country — Hunts some of present Dartmoor
country — His keeper warns off the Dartmoor — Courtenay Bulteel
unmoved — " The Devon Hotmds " : a private pack — Hunting journal
— John Beal : contemporary tributes — Bag-foxes — The box-trap — Wild
and healthy bagmen — A six hours' hunt — A magnificent run — Country
hunted — The Ivybridge Meeting — Lines of country — Cliff foxes — The
Teign crossed : above Shaldon Bridge ; at Netherton ; at the Pleasure
House — Tide too high to follow — A great run : Rora to Langamarsh —
Hydrophobia — Some harrier packs — A tragedy — Hunt dinner — Curious
case of a vixen — Visits to Eggesford — Sport in North Devon — Jack
Russell's Hounds at Haccombe — Resignation — An all-round sportsman
— A Carew and a Champernowne,
" Carew's rich scream so loud and shrill
Startles the blackcock on the hill ;
It vibrates on the fox's ear,
And every hound has caught the cheer ;
It gathers up the scattered pack.
And claps them on his very back."
(Dartmoor Days. By E. W. L. Davies.)
BORN in 1807, and succeeding his father in the
Baronetcy in 1830, Sir Walter Carew, as already
mentioned, 1 succeeded Mr. King as master in 1829.
To his wise and steady administration during four-
teen years, we, of a later generation, are largely
indebted for the sporting instinct of the farmers of
South Devon, which he did so much to foster and
develop and which endures to this day. In this
he was, no doubt, helped by the advantages of his
1 See p. 34.
41
42 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
position and large landed interests ; but these, of
themselves, will not go far, especially in Devonshire,
without a personality that commends itself to the
country-side. This Sir Walter Carew possessed, and
in addition he was a sportsman of the highest order.
Mr. Harris^ attributes the rescue of the sport from
extinction at a critical period to the exertions and
support, under every difficulty, of Mr. Trelawny,
Sir Walter Carew and Sir Henry Scale. He also
places Sir Walter as second only in successfully
crossing a country to the gallant Tom Phillips in
these words :
" Perhaps the next best to him — yes, certainly,
the next best in singleness of purpose and deter-
mination in taking a line, was Walter Carew, the
present baronet."
And to him was allotted one of the stalls in St.
Hubert's Hall before mentioned- with the motto
Animo non astutid. Flask, by Smuggler, and
Arlington were two of his best hunters.
Sir Walter had two seats, namely, Haccombe, on
the south side of the lower reaches of the River
Teign, some three miles from Ne^^i;on Abbot ; and
Marley, near Brent. He had kennels at both places,
but the pack was usually quartered at Haccombe,
the kennels at Marley being used on the occasion of
temporary visits to that side of the country.
Sir Walter Carew greatly distinguished himself in
the hunting fields of Warwickshire and Leicester-
shire, where he hunted after giving up his own pack
in South Devon. Even before this, he used to pay
visits to the Shires, and during one whole season,
* LetUre on the past and present Foxhounds oj Devonshire.
* See p. 22.
SIR WALTER PALK CAREW, BART. 43
1842-3, that he spent at Baggrave Hall, Leicester-
shire, his friend, Sir Henry Seale, went to stay at
Haccombe and took command of the pack in his
absence. The letters of Sir Henry Seale, or ^Ir.
Seale as he then was (for his father was still living),
to the absent master are interesting and 's\'ill be
quoted from time to time in these pages. In them we
read how the field on the Haldon side " must begin
to think yoiu: hounds can kill their foxes ; Luxmore
was grumbling because the fixture for Monday is
Bradleigh ; they want us on the other side of Haldon
every day. . . . Old Short is the best ; I find he has
a little consideration for the hounds " ; how " we
have killed a fox for every day as yet, as you will
see by the kennel door " (that was up to Clu-istmas) ;
how, of a " most brilliant biu'st " from Powderham
to Haldon House with a kill in the open, " Bulteel
says he had not seen anything like it for years.
Lord Devon was delighted " ; how, speaking of
another run, " you would have enjoyed this run ; it
lasted about thirty-five minutes at a racing pace.
It must be a very good fox to do more before your
hounds over the open in the condition they are in at
present " ; how, " I caught one \4xen by the brush
among the rocks and held her up, but while I was
trying to put my whip into her mouth she gave a
spring and got away." His many remarks on
individual hounds shew him to have been a careful
observer and an enthusiast, as : "I wish Manager
in shape and make was like Brilliant, so that you
could like him ; he did work to-day in style."
x\gain, in sending Sir Walter particulars of the
proposed draft : " The hounds are all so good that
we have had great difficulty in deciding which are
the ones that may go if you approve. . . . We put
44 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
in Gra^-ity, because Beal says you cannot bear the
sight of her, but before you part with her you had
better see her work. She is one of the best in the
kennel and more steady than you could possibly
expect." From these observations it is clear that
Sir Walter had a good eye for a hound and nice
ideas of make and shape.
The letters contain some amusingr references to
domestic troubles. '' "\"\liat shall I say to the house-
maid here ? " Sir Henr\' asks in one letter, " I tliink
she wants a little of Mrs. Martin's controul. She does
just what she likes, not much, and frequently absents
herself without saj-ing a word to Mrs. Scale. Goes
to balls, etc., and knocks up the nurses at 5 o'clock
in the morning to let her in at the window ; pretty
rapid ; . . . Shall I give this young lady to under-
stand that she is under my controul?'' Later, "I
find the housemaid does not improve. She walked
off Friday and did not retiu-n until Saturday after-
noon. ... I think we had better look out for another
for you." The incident closes with the remark " I
have dealt out the law to the gay housemaid.*'
^^^len Sir Walter first took over the country, its
limits were not clearly defined. Necessity for a
strict demarcation of boundaries had not then
arisen. It chd arise later, and Sir Walter's daughters,
the Misses Carew, have in their possession corre-
spondence between their father and Mr. John Crocker
Bulteel on the subject. Unfortunately the letters
cannot at present be found, so we do not know
what arrangement was arrived at. We shall see,
however, that Sir Walter continued to the end to
hunt the Marley country, including Skerraton, Har-
bourneford, etc., and we know that at some sub-
sequent period a ''' rectification of the frontier "
Sm WALTER PALK CAREW, BART. 45
took place, by virtue of which those parts are now
in the lawful possession of the Dartmoor Hunt.
In this connection the follo'^-ing passage from a
letter of Sir Henry Scale dated the 9th January,
1843, TSTitten to the master at Baggrave Hall is
interesting :
" Your Marley keeper. Hanning,^ came over here (Hac-
combe) last Wednesday and desired me to mention, when
I wrote, that Bulteel's hounds had been drawing Brent Hill.
He told me that you had given him orders to forbid their
doing so, but they would draw the covert, and Mr. Bulteel
(I suppose he meant Courtenay) said : ' Never mind, it's
all right.'
" They found, it seems, first in your wood by Brent and
the fox ran by the windows at Marley as before, and soon
wished them good morning. They then came back and
would draw your new plantation. Hanning says if they
are allowed to disturb it he cannot expect to have a litter
there. He wishes to know if you have given them leave to
draw there ? "
It is during the early days of Sir Walter Carew's
mastership that we first find a record of the pack
having another name than that of its owner. In
the table of hunts contained in the New Spoiiing
Magazine for 1831 the pack is called " The Devon,"
though this title drops out again in 1834. There is
no doubt that, whatever their formal style may
have been, the hounds were popularly known as
*' Sir Walter Carew's." The Misses Carew confirm
me in this, and I myself, in days gone by, have
heard folk speak of " Sir Walter's " homids, but
never of " The Devon." At any rate, the pack was
the private property of the master and was limited
at his sole expense.
^ The man's n£ime wais Aiming ; it must be inferred from the above
spelling that he pronomiced it with an aspirate.
46 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
Sir Walter's hunting journal is a remarkable little
volume. No larger than an ordinary hound list
(and, indeed, smaller than some hound lists), it
measures only three and a quarter inches by four
and a quarter, and is a quarter of an inch in thick-
ness. Each of its pages contains from twenty-six
to twenty-eight closely written lines in a very small
and clear handwriting. It was originally started as
an account of the game killed at Haccombe and
begins with the 1st September, 1823, two years
before its author left Eton. The earlier entries
include, under the heading " Hunting," the follow-
ing interesting items : " 24th Sep., 1825, 3 hares
and a fox " ; " Feb. 14th, 1826, 1 hare, 1 fox " ;
and " Mch. 29th, 1826, 1 fox." And in the sum-
mary for the shooting season ending February, 1829,
" by the harriers — hares."
These entries at first sight might lead one to
conclude that the harriers trespassed on the domain
of the foxhounds. But the Stover establishment
had been broken up by February, 1826, which leaves
only one fox accounted for by the harriers for the
three preceding years covered by the journal. This
does not point to the hunting of foxes being a general
practice with the harriers before the foxhounds were
disestablished. The harriers in question were no
doubt those of Sir Walter's father, Sir Henry Carew,
who kept a pack at Haccombe,^ which was recruited
by a purchase of some of George Templer's hounds. ^
It was, no doubt, with his father's harriers that Sir
Walter acquired the rudiments of his knowledge of
hunting that stood him in such good stead later on.
* See the reference to Sir Henry Carew'3 Harriers in the account of
*' A Devon Hunt of 1823 " in Appendix A.
* See p. 22.
M
o
H E
M ^
Q ?c
< ^
pq 2
^ S
O
SIR WALTER PALK CAREW, BART. 47
The journal develops into a hunting journal proper
(with an occasional intervening summary of game
killed to the gun) in the year 1827. The first two
seasons deal with John King's mastership and have
already been referred to.
The entries in the journal are very concise, often
laconic. They were evidently entered in a batch
periodically from notes made after each day's sport,
probably weekly, since in one case we find the entry :
" I have mislaid the account for the week be-
ginning Dec. 5th." The journal bears evidence of
scrupulous exactness.
John Beal was huntsman. He remained with Sir
Walter all the time he kept the pack and accom-
panied the hounds when they went into the Tiverton
country after Sir Walter retired. Sir Henry Scale's
letters shew that Beal was a good huntsman and
rarely away from his hounds when running. He
was also a trustworthy servant. " I have appointed
Beal," Sir Henry wrote in December, 1842, " pre-
sident and toastmaster to preside over some roast
beef and two bowls of punch to drink all our good
healths Xmas Day, and Kitson is to say grace,
with old Rendal (I mean the one who is partial to
tobacco) to say ' Amen.' " " Beal " he says in
another letter " has ' hopes in view ' " (a favourite
expression of the old huntsman's) " of a good day's
sport to-morrow."
Of Beal as a huntsman. Colonel Anstruther Thom-
son, writing of the Tiverton hounds in the year 1845,
says :
" John Beal was the huntsman ; he had no
whipper-in. The hounds were taken to the meet in
couples, for one day they met (sic), a dead horse
and stopped and ate him up. John Beal was a real
48 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
workman in a rough way. Once, after hunting a
fox a long time, they ran into a gorse covert. Old
John got off his horse and said : ' Mr. Hole, do 'ee
hold my horse until I pawk un up again.' He strode
into the covert, blew his horn, and soon had the
fox afoot again. "^
The Reverend E. W. L. Da^-ies also makes men-
tion of Beal in connection with the Tiverton. He
savs :-
" He is a good man in a woodland country, and,
though somewhat of a veteran " — this was in the
year 1850 — " is a rattling, energetic huntsman, keep-
ing his hounds together without the aid of a whipper-
in."
Beal was somewhat of a character, as shewn by
his remark to Mr. R. H. Watson^ after one of the
annual spring I\y bridge Hunt weeks : " Dartmoor
hunting is butiful— if you could but see it ; them
bogs be always in the way.*' But, then, he was
accustomed to the eastern quarter, which we of the
South Devon always claim to be the best of Dart-
moor !
After his retirement, Beal went to live at Shaldon,
not far from Haccombe, and died there in a house,
facing the bridge, which still bears the name he
gave it of " Hunter's Lodge."
Of Sir Walter's keenness to begin, we may judge
by the date of his first cubhunting fixture, 27th
July. From that date he hunted steadily on until
the 28th May, 1830, putting in eighty-seven days,
making a solid ten months' season ! His greatest
number of hunting days in one season, however,
^ E'ghty years' Reminiscences. J. Anstruther Thomson.
» Fores's Guide for 1850.
» See p. 83.
SIR WALTER PALK CAREW, BART. 49
was in 1831-2, when he hunted on ninety-three days
between the 8th August and the 3rd May.
A word of explanation is needed as to the practice
that prevailed in those days of hunting bag-foxes.
Let not the latter-day purist turn up his eyes in
horror at the word until he hears the explanation.
There was as much difference between the openly
turned-down fox of those days and the secretly
shaken-out bagman of later times as there is now
between the wild Hector of Dartmoor and the hand-
reared, wired-in tame fox that alone is available in
some would-be smart hunts. For Carew's turned-
down foxes were far more worthy of being hunted
and were capable of she-^ing infinitely better sport
than the hand-reared domestic variety referred to.
Foxes were thin on the ground in the early decades
of the nineteenth century, and the fact that they
had to travel far afield for food and company kept
them in good condition and taught them an exten-
sive range of country. The system adopted by
George Templer, of regularly keeping a number in
confinement and sa\'ing them alive, was not followed.
Instead, the practice was to dig a fox that the pack
had marked to ground, and then, two or three days
afterwards, to turn him do^n to be hunted. During
those intervening days he was kept in a large building
affording room for exercise, and well fed, but not
surfeited. As a result, he started in good condition
and fit to run for his life, which, with the knowledge
of country in his favour, he often managed to save.
From this fact, and from the time, pace and distance
of the runs afforded, it is clear that he must have
been allowed sufficient law. Sometimes, as happens
with a fox found in the usual way, he would get
killed early and fail to shew a run. But it is notice-
50 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
able that some of the best runs recorded in the
journal were in pursuit of the turned-down animal.
When digging was not possible, a box trap was
sometimes used, which caught the fox uninjured, as
shewn by the following entry that occurs in the
journal : " Set the box trap and got him." Times
have changed, and the system would not be tolerated
at the present day. But in passing opinion upon it,
one has to consider the circumstance of the times
and the manner of its working. Without such a
thorough sportsman as Sir Walter Carew at the head
of affairs, it would probably not have been a success
at any time.
He himself, it will be noted, drew a nice distinc-
tion between the unhandled animal and the other,
for in his summary of each season's sport he gives
the number killed as "so many foxes and so many
bagmen."
Here are some examples taken from Sir Walter
Carew's journal of fast bursts and of long runs which
shew that these bagmen were in reality wild and
healthy foxes, well equipped for the struggle they
had to undergo and not to be classed with the totally
different animal that has rightly brought the name
of bagman into such disrepute among sportsmen.
On the 17th September, 1829, a fox, dug out at
Stover on the 12th, was turned out at Lindridge
and stood before the pack for forty fast minutes
before being killed.
On the 23rd December, 1830, a fox, also dug out
at Stover a few days previously, was turned out at
Lindridge, and, after running through Ugbrooke
Park, took the pack straight to Canonteign where
he was killed.
Time was evidently given to a fox to recover when
SIR WALTER PALK CAREW, BART. 51
dug out after a run of any length or severity. One
dug out on the 28th January, 1831, after a " very
pretty run " to the Ilsham cUffs, was allowed to rest
until the 4th February, when he was turned out at
Bovey Heathfield and killed at Haccombe after a
very good run, evidently on his way home to the
diffs.
Another good bagman that knew the stronghold
in the Stoke cliffs was the one put down at Bradley
on the 9th February, 1831. The pack hunted him
with a very bad scent for six hours through seven
parishes, finally losing him in the cliffs. All credit
to the patience of hounds and huntsman !
A fox found near Chudleigh on February 11th,
1833, earthed in Chudleigh Rock and afterwards
caught in a box trap, was evidently a visitor in that
locality. For, when set at large at Stover a few
days later, he gave " a beautiful run " through
Bradley, the Decoy, Kingskerswell, Compton and
Cockington to Paignton sands, where he was taken
alive.
On December 19th, 1835, a fox from Browns-
combe was turned out at Teignbridge. The pack
ran hard till dark and the master could not say
whether or no they killed.
Another, turned out at Ogwell, was killed at
Botter Rock after a capital run.
A fox turned down at Humber Moor on the 23rd
December, 1837, went straight back to the drain at
White way from which he had been taken on the 21st.
A rare good bagman was that which, on the 31st
March, 1838, got to ground at Buckland Beacon
after starting from Jew's Bridge. The master speaks
of this as " a magnificent run."
Of the same good stuff was the Decoy fox put down
52 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
at the Sands. He took the pack through Lindridge
across the River Teign at Netherton Point and
saved his brush in the rocks above Abbotskerswell.
This was on the last day of the year 1839.
On the 22nd November, 184^1, a Stover fox turned
down at Sandy Gate was killed in Teignmouth after
a very good run. No doubt he was making for the
cliffs.'
On the 31st December, 184:2, a turned-out fox ran
over Little Haldon to the Parson and Clerk cliff and
was killed. And on the 5th of January, 1843,
another, after taking a big ring through Harcombe,
Ugbrooke, by Ideford to Colly Lane, was killed at the
Warren, Starcross. xA.nd yet another was killed in
Teignmouth on the 6th February in the same year
after a run from Sandy Gate.
The above instances and others to be found in the
journal sufficiently prove the stoutness and condition
of the turned-out fox ; and the number that escaped
(I have recorded chiefly those killed) is evidence
that they were given fair play and a good start.
The country hunted by Sir Walter was much the
same as that covered by his predecessor, John King.
It embraced a wide range and included fixtures as
far apart as Dartmouth, Killerton, Pynes, ^^^litestone
Wood, Great Fulford and Skerraton. Some others,
further west, such as Ivybridge, are mentioned only
in connection with the Ivybridge meeting and were
doubtless " by invitation," but Erme Bridge appears
to have been one of his own fixtures.
It is interesting to note certain lines of country,
frequent in those days, but which are rarely taken by
hounds to-day. The cliffs on the seashore on either
side of the mouth of the Teign were much resorted to
by foxes. Probably, though in a less degree, this is
A DOG HOUND
A BITCH HOUND
From oil paintings at Haccombe
To face page h-1
SIR WALTER PALK CAREW, BART. 53
true of later times, but hunting has receded further
from the coast and these cHff foxes are not often found.
I once saw a run finish at the Parson and Clerk cliff,
and on occasion have known foxes make for the cliffs
between the Ness and Torquay. On one of those
occasions, in Mr. Whidborne's second mastership, a
hound fell over the cliffs and was killed. It is
remarkable, considering that he hunted the cliffs
frequently, that Sir Walter Carew mentions only two
similar accidents in his fourteen years' record. Both
occurred in December, 1831 ; the first at the rocks at
Sowden cliff, when the master lost his favourite bitch,
Gipsey, and the second at Watcombe, when a hound
called Alderman was killed after earthing his fox.
Sir Henry Scale, however, mentions two or three
instances in his letters of hounds falling over the
cliff, though in every case the hounds were not
seriously hurt. Once a man had to be let down by a
rope to recover one, which " the field seemed to
consider great fun."
Instances are also to be found in the journal of the
pack frequently crossing the River Teign between
Ugbrooke and Stover, and sometimes much lower
down in the tidal reaches of the river. And yet I can
recall only two instances within the last thirty-five
years of the river being crossed between Teignbridge
and Bovey, and none at all of any crossing below
Teignbridge. And of those two instances, one, in
Dr. Gaye's time, I think, was, as I learnt years after-
wards from one of the keepers concerned, after a dead
fox. The other occurred while Dan North was
huntsman to the Haldon Hounds, and the pack
earthed a fox in Rora.
Why this change should have come about it is hard
to say. The river was always there. The canal was
54 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
there in Carew's time. The branch railway hne from
Newton Abbot to Moretonhampstead is the only new
barrier. But it has been there since the 'sixties ; and
foxes in other countries cross the line continually.
The explanation may be that no necessity exists for
foxes to cross this particular line, as they have a wide
tract of country on either side of it unimpeded by any
other railway. A similar reason may account for
foxes no longer crossing, as they were wont to do, the
wide navigable portion of the Teign lower down,
where the main line of the Great Western Railway
runs parallel and close to the river between Teign-
mouth and Newton Abbot. Old Mr. Arthur Owen,
who was intimately associated with the Teignmouth
and Shaldon Bridge Company, and who died in 1901,
told me that he once saw Sir Walter's hounds cross
the river, at low tide, a very short distance above the
bridge. Twice only is anything of the sort specifically
mentioned in the journal. Once on the 31st Decem-
ber, 1839, when they ran a bagman, as already
mentioned,^ " through Lyndridge across the river
at Netherton Point and earthed in the rocks above
Abbotskerswell " ; and once with a fox from Well
cover " over Humber Moor to the river at the
Pleasure House. ^ Fox crossed, but the tide was too
high for us to follow.'' From the matter-of-fact way
in which the crossing is referred to in these two cases,
and from the brevity of many of the entries, we may
fairly conclude the occurrence was not unusual. And
from the concluding words of the last-quoted entry,
it is clear the field did not hesitate to ford the river
1 See p. 52.
* The Pleasure House was an octagonal building belonging to Mr. Comyns
of Wood, on the North Bank of the River Teign at a spot nearly opposite
Netherton Point. The ruins of this have disappeared dxiring quite recent
years.
SIR WALTER PALK CAREW, BART. 55
when the tide permitted. Doubtless the channel had
not then been dredged to its present depth. Even so,
one cannot help thinking how thankful one would
have been to find the tide too high for the adventure.
On the other hand, the line taken was on many
occasions just such as we should expect a fox to
choose to-day. This applies in particular to the
Haldon country.
So far as one can judge, out of many good runs one
of the best and longest was that from Rora Wood on
the 12th January, 1843, the line being by Bickington
to Bagtor and the granite works at Heytor, over the
moor to Buckland, through the woods there, across
the Dart and to ground at Whitewood and Langa-
marsh. Sir Henry Scale, who was then in command,
speaks of this as an extraordinary run.
Naturally we find, interwoven with much excellent
and sometimes brilliant sport, days and periods of
failure and disappointment ; records of fog, bad
scent, no sport, impossible weather and blank days,
as on the day when all the country from Skerraton to
Stover was drawn without finding ! The difficulties
of earth-stopping are also apparent throughout the
journal, but we find only one instance mentioned of
a three-legged fox being killed.
In the summer of 1838, Sir Walter Carew suffered
the greatest misfortune that can befall a master of
hounds, for hydrophobia broke out in the kennels,
with the result that he was not able to hunt the dog-
hounds before November. From this statement it
looks as if the whole pack was not attacked.
In the season 1831-2, the master started hunting
dogs and bitches separately and sometimes hunted
as many as three and four days a week.
In those days, packs of harriers were numerous in
56 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
Devonshire, and Sir Walter occasionally came across
them when enoraored in the " bolder chase." Near
Haccombe, he ran into Sellick's harriers in 1832. In
November, 1834, mention is made of " ^Ir. Bovey's
hounds," which earthed a fox that was subsequently
tm-ned out before Sir Walter's apparently in the
neighbourhood of Bovey Tracey. In the course of the
run, Ml'. Bovey, who had come on purpose to see his
fox tm'ned out, was thrown from his horse and killed
on the spot. This 'Mr. Bovey was a brother of the
" Bob Bovey," of Pear Tree, who, with Jack Russell,
got into such hot water at Tiverton School for keeping
a cry of hounds on the quiet.
Dm'ing the same season, Sir Walter's hounds ran
into ^Ir. Rodd's harriers in the country round Cotley
Wood.
In April, 1837, they ran a fox from Skerraton Wood
to Kingswood, where they joined forces with Bulteel's
hounds, and the two packs afterwards proceeded to
draw Raythorn Brake together, finding a fox and
earthing him at Wood Ball. In December of the same
year, Carew's, after throwing off at Chudleigh Bridge,
met, and apparently joined forces with, Bennet's
hounds which were running a fox.
In 1835 mention is made in the jom'nal of the hunt
dinner at Chudleigh, which looks as if that function
was then an annual affair.
Under date 25th February, 1843, a curious case is
given of a vixen. This fox was taken out of a drain
at Haccombe about 9 a.m., but, being a vixen, she
was earmarked and put back. She was found and
killed some six miles off, at Torbryan, the same
morning by the pack which met at eleven o'clock at
Bradley.
Sir Walter Carew was on terms of close friendship
SIR WALTER PALK CAREW, BART. 5T
with all the sportsmen of front rank in his day.
Especially intimate was he with the Hon. Newton
Fellowes (afterwards the fourth Earl of Portsmouth),
and frequent were the visits he paid with his pack to
Eggesford to take part in the Chumleigh meetings. ^
Great sport sometimes fell to his lot in North Devon.
For instance, meeting at Rackenford on February 18th,
1832, the last day of that particular meeting, which
had begun on the 28th January, Sir Walter describes
how at the end of a good run the fox was viewed not
a hundred yards before the hounds.
" And," he says, *' they most decidedly killed, but,
it being nearly dark, and every person being done
but Hole, Beal and myself, we could not live with
hounds or find any part of the fox. Every horse in
the field beat to a standstill. A large field at meeting."
He then remarks : " This was the best week's sport
I ever witnessed, three of the runs being perfect."
One cannot help thinking this must have been the
occasion referred to by Charles Trelawny^ when
" With Russell and Carew's hounds, in twelve
consecutive hunting days, the shortest runs were
twelve miles from point to point as the crow flies."
On another occasion in North Devon, in January,
1835, Sir Walter speaks of finding " the old Collaton
fox which had beaten Russell three times. Had a
good run and lost."
It was from Eggesford, too, that occurred on the
6th December, 1839, what Sir Walter describes as one
of the finest runs he ever saw. Here is his note of
the day :
" At Lapford Forches. Found directly ; killed.
Found again in the Lapford covers. Went awaj^ to
Lee, nearly to Thelbridge Cross, by the Black Dog
^ See ante, p, 30. * Life of the Rev. J. Russell, p. 240.
58 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
to Kennerley Wood, 1 hr. and 10 min. -v^-ithout
a check. Here he was coursed and we hunted him
back to Lapford where nothing saved his life but
2 or 3 fresh foxes. This was one of the finest runs
I ever saw, up to Kennerley being perfect."
Expeditions were also made from time to time into
the Tiverton countr\', where the pack was kennelled
at Collipriest by the master's cousin, Mr. Tom Carew ;
and into Mr. Bulteel's (the Dartmoor), chiefly in the
month of November. In connection with the latter,
it is interesting to note that the Rybridge Week was
firmly established before 1837, for in November of
that year it is spoken of as " The IvybTidge Meeting."
Jack Russell brought his hounds to Haccombe in
October, 1831, and had two days, at Powderham and
Haccombe respectively.
At the end of the season 1842-3, Sir Walter gave
up the country and lent his pack, with the exception
of eight couple of bitches, to his cousin, who was then
hunting the Tiverton country-. The eight couple he
presented to the Quorn, from which fact, and from
the fact of their distinguishing themselves in that
countr}', we may conclude that his hounds were bred
with care and from the best blood.
In addition to his qualifications as a master of
hounds Sir Walter was a good shot, a yachtsman and
a devotee of the road. Besides getting a great deal of
dri^^ng practice at the " real thing," he kept his own
coach and continued to drive a team until late in life.
In a notice of his death, which occurred at Marley on
the 27th January, 1874, a -vmter in Land and Water
says that he developed into one of the best whips in
the West, and that, in the days when the " Telegraph "
and the " Quicksilver " were synonymous for speed
and safety. Sir Walter was well known on the
SIR WALTER PALK CAREW, B.ART. 59
Western roads ; and many a steady lesson had he at
the hands of the brothers Ward, who used to drive in
the county of Devon. Henr^^ Ward spoke of him as
one of the best pupils he ever had.
Sir Walter was buried in the family vault at the
little church close to Haccombe House.
The door of this church still bears the remains of
four ancient horseshoes nailed there as a token of
thanksgiving by a Carew, who, long years ago,
wagered with a Champernowne of Dartington as to
which of them should swim his horse furthest out to
sea. The Carew won the wager and had considerable
difficultv in saviner his own life and that of his friend.
CHAPTER IV
CAPTAIN MARTIN E. HAWORTH : 1843-45
Family connections — The Devon Harriers and their doings : Sir Henry Seale'a
opinion — The Devon Hounds — Kennels near Powderham — Guest at
Eggesford — A run through twelve parishes — Anstruther Thomson's
criticism : a critic at fault — ^^^lere a hard-and-fast rule fails — Incon-
venient position of kennels — A notable hiinting diary — Cliief fixtures of
that day — The master's keenness — Good sport — Bag-foxes given up —
" Shaking a fox " — A notable run — Fox in otter's holt — Scent in snow —
A point from Stover to Holne Bridge — Other memorable runs — A master's
troubles : was wire among them ? — Some of his field — Takes the H.H.
— Lady Mary Leslie's story of " The Barber " — An active terrier — The
Silver Greyhound and Road Scrapings — Tom Clark whipper-in to the
Devon — Becomes huntsman to the Craven, Old Berksliire and Badminton
— ^The Duke's opinion.
" Slight token, be it leaf or flower,
Will mark for Ufe one blissful hour ;
So trophies of the chase recall
The men, the hounds, the steeds and all."
{Dartmoor Days.)
HUNTING men in South Devon were fortunate
in securing an immediate successor to Sir
Walter Carew in the person of Captain Haworth.
After resigning his commission in the 60th Rifles,
Captain Haworth went to live at Southtown House,
Kenton, and was factor to the Powderham estate, his
wife. Lady Mary Haworth, being a cousin to the then
Earl of Devon. In 1886 Lady Mary Haworth became
Countess of Rothes in her own right, and Captain
Haworth then assumed by royal licence the surname
of Leslie, the family name being now Haworth Leslie.
His eldest son married a daughter of Mr. Henry
6o
CAPTAIN MARTIN E. HA WORTH
From a water-colour sketch by his Sister
"THE BARBER"
From an oil painting in the possession of Lady Mary Leslie
To face page 00
CAPTAIN MARTIN E. HAWORTH 61
Studdy of Waddeton Court, near Brixham, from
whose coverts the South Devon Hounds have had
many a good run.
From 1840 to 1843, Haworth had been hunting
from Powderham a pack of harriers known as the
Devon Harriers. It was of these harriers that Sir
Henry Scale, in January, 1843, wrote from Haccombe^
to Sir Walter Carew in the following terms :
" I have now to tell you of the Devon Harriers and
their acts, which have caused a grand sensation among
your field. There are various reports. The truth is,
I believe, that Mr. Haworth drew Eastdon covert near
Mr. Eales's house, and found a mangey, weak fox,
which the hounds killed at Oxton."
It was the old story of the foxhounds having a
larger country than they could properly contend with,
and Lord Devon had written only a fortnight or so
previously, asking whether it was the intention to
draw his coverts. He also wrote to the acting
M.F.H. immediately after the " mishap " to express
his regret at the occurrence.
The incident caused a considerable stir at the time,
but was not repeated, and the troubled waters were
soon quieted by the tact and good temper displayed
by Sir Walter Carew and his deputy.
When the country became vacant in 1843, Haworth
took it over and substituted for the harriers a pack of
foxhounds. These hounds were called " The Devon
Hounds," a name which, as we have seen,^ was the
formal title of the pack hunting this country as far
back as 1831.
His whipper-in was Tom Clark, and his kennel lad
Charley Pike. The kennels, Mr. J. Gould Drew tells
^ Sir Henry was at that time in charge of Sir Walter's hounds. See p. 43.
* See p. 45.
62 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
me, were in what is known as Kenn Lane, the road
leading from the main road near Powderham Arch
to the village of Kenn.
Colonel Anstruther Thomson mentions ^ Ha worth
being at Eggesford as the guest of the Hon. Newton
Fellowes for the Chumleigh Hunt week in 1845, and
as one of six or seven who were in at the death of a
fox that, on the same occasion, Jack Russell's hounds
hunted through twelve parishes, the run lasting from
twelve o'clock until five. But in a previous page,^
while admitting Haworth's keenness, the same author
speaks rather slightingly of his abilities as a hunts-
man. He says Ha worth was " not much of a hunts-
man. He would sit on the top of a hill and view
holloa though his hounds were a mile away." With
the deepest respect for so great an authority, it seems
to me the reason given does not warrant the con-
demnation. None will dispute the correctness of the
general rule, insisted upon in Anstruther Thomson's
Hints to Huntsmen, that a huntsman should go to
fetch his hounds rather than holloa or blow for them
to come to him. But this general rule, like other
general rules, has its exceptions, as, for example,
where a huntsman cannot get to his hounds, or when
to go there and back would involve undue delay. In
Devonshire, such circumstances frequently arise. It
may often happen there that, if hounds are half a
mile away, a huntsman may have to go a mile to get
to them. In such a case, the saving of time, and,
perhaps, of a half -blown horse, not only justifies, but
demands, a departure from the rule. This shews
the fallacy of attempting to apply an inflexible rule
to conditions which are never constant. Colonel
Thomson's writings shew that he attached undue
* Eighty Years' Reminiscences, p. 108. ^ Ibid., p. 105.
CAPTAIN MARTIN E. HA WORTH 63
importance to the rule in question ; or perhaps I
should say that, having hunted mostly in rideable
countries, he did not appreciate the modifications
that an unrideable one may necessitate. Moreover,
Colonel Thomson could not, at the time he made
the note in his diary, have seen much of Captain
Haworth, as he did not come to Devonshire until
towards the end of the latter' s last season. He did
not then even know him well enough to spell his name
correctly !
That there could not have been much to find fault
with in Haworth' s methods as a huntsman is proved
by the record of excellent sport shewn by him and by
the number of foxes accounted for in a notoriously
difficult country in which to kill a fox. And this, with
the disadvantages, in his first season, of a pack newly
got together, and an abnormally dry and hot cub-
hunting season.
A note of each day's sport was entered in the
master's diary, which is illustrated with some clever
pen-and-ink sketches. Its length — it comprises some
twelve thousand words — precludes its reproduction
here, but a careful perusal of its pages reveals the
difficulties the master had to contend with and his
success in overcoming them.
The following were the chief fixtures in Haworth's
time :
Bellamarsh. Dunchideock.
Black Forest. Dunsford Bridge.
Bovey. Eastdon, Stareross.
Bradley. Forde House.
Bridford. Haccombe.
Chudleigh Bridge. Haldon.
Cotleigh Wood. Haldon Race Stand.
Culver House. Kenn.
64 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
Kennford. Powderham Saw Mills.
Killerton Lodge. Round O.
Kingskerswell. Sandy Gate.
Lindridge. Shiphay.
Luscombe. Stover Gate.
Mamhead. Thorns.
Ogwell. "\"Miiteway.
Oxton. "Windy Cross.
Parke House, Bovey. Winslade House.
Peamore.
It will be seen that long distances had to be
covered to reach some of these fixtures. The distances
home were in many cases still longer. But the
Captain was as keen as mustard. This is shewn by
the first entry in his diary, which records his cover-
ing, in company with his hounds, the fourteen miles
from the kennels to Bridford by 5.30 a.m. ; and it is
easy to see from the rest of the entries that there was
no abatement in his energies throughout his term of
office.
Although an occasional blank day is recorded, the
country was e^^dently well stocked with foxes on the
whole, a circumstance which no doubt led to the
abandonment of the practice of hunting bag-foxes.
For, though a few such instances occurred in his first
season, when the master mentions that he " shook
a fox," the old system was not kept up once the need
for it had ceased.
Several excellent runs occurred in Haworth's first
season, and also many very hard days creditable
ahke to hounds and huntsman. The master even
had the satisfaction of shewing in his first season
what may be classed as a record run, namely, on the
1st February, 1844, the fixture being Lindridge.
After forty minutes to ground in the morning, a fox
CAPTAIN ROCK^
SOME OF CAPTAIN HA"WORTH'S HOUNDS
From oil ijaintings in the lossession of I^dy Mary L^sli-r
To face page d5
CAPTAIN ]\L\RTIX E. HAWORTH 65
was found in Humber Moor, and, after taking a turn
over Haldon and round to Lindridge, he took the
pack, by ^vay of the Decoy, Kingskerswell, Abbots-
kerswell and ^Miiddon, to within two miles of Totnes,
where they killed. The time is given as two hours
and ten minutes. Those honourably mentioned in a
newspaper report of this gallant chase, as riding the
run throughout, besides the master and his whip,^
Tom Clark, were Messrs. Short, Luxmoore, Kitson,
Barnes, Friend, Jones, Walkey, Taylor, Wreford and
Marriott.
Another very severe run in a rough country, with a
big point, is chronicled as having taken place on the
13th March, 184-4, '^ith a distance estimated at
fifteen miles between the extreme points. After
meeting at Sandy Gate, the pack hit the line of a
moved fox in Torr Hill Brakes near Lindridge, and
were fortunate enough to get on good terms with
him. The line taken was through Well Bottom, the
Sands, Ugbrooke Park, Chudleigh, AMiiteway and
Ashton, crossing the Teign there : then a big loop by
Canonteign, re-crossing the river at Bridford, and
away for Cotleigh Wood, within a few fields of which
the hounds ran into their fox. Time, two hours and
five minutes.
The entry in the master's diary for the 14th
December, 1843, records that " in consequence of
the sudden and lamented death of George Templer "
the hounds did not keep their appointment at ^Mlite-
way on that day, a graceful tribute to so good and
accomplished a sportsman.
Very graphic is the description of a run from
^ Some eminent authorities, including the late Duke of Beaufort, have
taken exception to this colloquial use of the word " whip." See. however,
article on "' Hunting Terminology " in the Field of 9th November, 1912,
p. 962.
66 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
Stover a week later. The pack had killed a fox after
hunting him for an hour and a half, and the field, by
some mistake, had all gone home, thinking the
master had left off drawing. But he had not ; and he
found another fox. " Away I went," he says, " with
an old fox, at half-past two, in a thick fog, on the
shortest day in the year. Nobody but Tom and I, and
our heads turned towards Dartmoor. I must confess
that, as it grew darker and the pace increased, I began
to fear I should lose the homids on the moor. We had
a splendid fifty minutes, and, as good fortune would
have it, he turned his head (being afraid of the fog)
back to Stover and we stopped the hounds, it being
dark. We arrived at the kermel at half -past nine
o^cl."
For the benefit of those interested in the problem
of scent, Haworth makes the observation, under date
21st February, 1844, that there was a rare scent while
the snow was falling fast, and adds that he has known
a burning scent when snow is disappearing but never
when it is coming down. Doubtless, as his experience
ripened, he came to learn that a good scent in falling
snow is no phenomenon. Another note in his diary
on the subject of scent tells how, on the 10th March
following, the pack killed an old dog fox on a day
that the master characterized as the ^^'ildest and most
boisterous he ever saw in this country.
Haworth began his second season (1844-5) very
strong in hounds — thirty-eight couple of working
hounds — and he hunted three days a week. But the
cubhunting season was again verv hot and drv, not
a single drop of rain falling until just before the
opening day which was on the 10th October. After
that, scent continued very bad indeed until December,
with a few exceptional days, such as the 28th Novem-
CAPTAIN MARTIN E. HA WORTH 67
ber, when they had a good run from Bradley to
Heytor. Then the frost set in and interfered a good
deal with sport. This season was characterized by
bad weather ; violent storms, torrents of rain and
boisterous days occurring with great frequency.
On Boxing Day a notable run took place from the
Large Plantation at Stover (query : the Wilderness).
They ran by Ash Hill to Hal Sanger tin mine and
Bagtor Wood, thence nearly to Widdicombe and on
to Buckland Beacon, through Buckland Wood and
Holne Chase, over the Dart and nearly to Holne
village, where the fox turned, and he was eventually
run into in the open near Holne Bridge.
After this there was a succession of good runs
ending with blood. The season, however, taken as
a whole, was a bad scenting one, and frost and snow
set in again at the end of January, when the diary
ends abruptly.
From the diary we learn that the coverts drawn
from Killerton included Cutton Allows and Stoke
Woods. It is interesting, too, to read that a fox
found near the house at Oxton, at that time the
residence of Mr. H. Swete, a staunch friend to hunt-
ing, " immediately went into the otter earths."
The diary also gives an insight into some of the
difficulties that interfered with sport in those days,
and we find they are much the same as prevail to-day.
Sometimes it is a little difficulty about So-and-so's
coverts ; sometimes the members of the field are
to blame ; sometimes careless or neglected earth-
stopping. Once a hound was caught in a vermin
trap and bled to death. Bad weather and bad scent
were common then, as now, and mange was not
unknown. Wire is not mentioned, but it seems to be
referred to (of course not the barbed variety) where
68 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
we are told that for want of a gate no horse could
follow the hounds across Mamhead Park. There is a
very old wire fence there now, which may well have
been then newly put up to protect the belt of planta-
tion on the Oxton side of the park when first planted.
The lichen-covered posts and rusty wire harmonize
so well with the surrounding bracken and trees, as to
be practically invisible in certain lights. I once
galloped unconsciously slap into it ; so, on sepa-
rate occasions, did Mr. Godfrey Lee and another
friend of mine.
Among the members of the field of those days
appear the names of Lord Cranstoun, Mr. Wall of
Bradley, Mr. W. E. S. Clack and Mr. Kitson ; and the
master's reference to the first flight includes Mr.
Short, Mr. H. Swete, Mr. T. Lane and Mr. Luxmoore.
On leaving Devonshire in 1845, Haworth took over
the mastership of the Hampshire Hounds, better
known as the H.H.^ He built new kennels at Ropley,
but was obliged, much to the regret of the country,
to retire in 1847, owing to the subscriptions falling off
in consequence of the famine. When he left Devon,
he took a part of his pack with him into Hampshire,
and, as some of these hounds doubtless figure in the
picture of part of his Hampshire pack, I have thought
it worth while to reproduce it. At any rate it gives an
idea of the type of hound of that day.
This picture, as also the pictures of two of his
horses. Captain Rock and The Barber, are in the
possession of Captain Haworth's daughter. Lady
Mary Leslie, who tells a quaint story of The Barber.
It seems that on their long journeys home after
hunting, master and man would sometimes stop for
1 Baily's Hunting Directory gives his dates as master of the H.H. as
J 844 to 1847. It should be 1845 to 1847.
CAPTAIN MARTIN E. HAWORTH 69
hurried refreshment at the door of some inn. On
those occasions, whoever was riding The Barber was
obhged to dismount, for the horse would never stand
still and allow his rider to drink in comfort. One
day, Captain Ha worth said to Clark : " The Barber
will never allow one to have a drink. See whether he
will have one himself." A pewter pot of suitable size
was accordingly offered to the horse, which drank the
ale with avidity. After that, it was found that, once
he had had his quart, he was quite amenable to his
rider following suit.
The picture of Captain Rock was painted just out-
side the eastern corner of Powderham Park, and
shews in the background a glimpse of the estuary
of the Exe, with Powderham Church on the left. The
hounds appear to be some of the Devon Harriers.
The quaint little terrier in the foreground was a great
favourite of his master's, and, when the latter was
mounted, the terrier would make a stepping-stone of
his foot to spring on to the saddle.
The portrait of Captain Ha worth is from a little
water-colour sketch made by his sister and is said to
be an excellent likeness.
Lady Mary Leslie also has her father's horn. It is
of copper, rather shorter and with less bell than most
of the horns of that period, though not as short or
as straight as the generality of modern horns. Its
tone struck me as particularly sweet, even in a
London flat !
After giving up the H.H., Haworth became a
Queen's Messenger. He has many an interesting
anecdote and many a thrilling adventure to relate in
his book The Silver Greyhound , so called after the
badge of office peculiar to the Service. He also wrote
another book : Road Scrapings, which, besides shew-
70 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
ing his knowledge of all the details of the fascinating
sport of coaching, gives a delightful glimpse of life
on the road.
Haworth's whipper-in, Tom Clark, afterwards
became huntsman to the Craven, under Mr. Ville-
bois, and, later, for five years to the Old Berkshire,
under Mr. Morrell. Then, when the famous Tubney
pack was broken up and the eighth Duke of Beaufort
bought eight couple for four hundred guineas, Clark
went with them to Badminton and remained as
huntsman to the Duke for ten years, often hunting
hounds six days a week. He had the character of
being too keen upon blood. I confess I never knew
a huntsman who was otherwise ; it is the business of
the M.F.H. to restrain this bloodthirstiness within
due limits. Of Clark the Duke of Beaufort said ;
*' Clark was a first-rate man in the kennel and good in
the field. But he was, perhaps, a trifle too anxious
to get away for a gallop. Nor was he very thorough
in drawing his coverts, and not seldom drew over his
fox. He was proverbially a bad finder of foxes. Once
in the open, he was, however, in his element ; he
loved to shew his field a gallop, and could be with his
hounds when they ran."^ Further mention of Clark
is made in the Hunting Volume of the Badminton
Library.
Clark retired in 1868 and took an inn at Chipping
Sodbury.
' The Eighth Duke of Beaufort and the Badminton Hunt, by T. F. Dale.
THOMAS V. LANE
To face page 71
CHAPTER V
THOMAS VEALE LANE: 1845-49
Kennels at Oaklands, Chudleigh — His own hvintsman — Chiirchward whipper-
in — Marqms of Waterford in South Devon : finds his match in Tom Lane
— Horses — Steeplechases in those days : " Vingt-et-un " — " For the
Honour of Devon " — Personal recollections — Name " Devon Fox-
hounds " retained — First mention of " South Devon " : Herbert BjTig
Hall; Fores' s Guide — " Gelert " : the country "one of the worst
in England " — Sir Henry Scale's Hounds — Name " South Devon "
borrowed by another pack — Extracts from Woolmer's Exeter and Ply-
mouth Gazette : "Notes of Sport"; hunt dinner — Sir Henry Hoare —
Lane's talent for painting — Hound Ust.
" Light-hearted Tom ! whose kindly tongue
With happy joke is ever hung ;
Than he no hunter tops a fence
With stronger nerve or less pretence ;
And none who join him e'er complain
Of dullness in a Devon lane."
(Dartmoor Days.)
CAPTAIN HA WORTH was succeeded in the
mastership by Mr. Lane, who built kennels at
the farm, now called Oaklands, which he had taken
near Chudleigh. He acted as his own huntsman and
had for whip Churchward, who, later, in Mr. Whid-
borne's first mastership became huntsman to the
pack.
Mr. Lane had the reputation of being an excellent
huntsman, very quick and quiet. He was also a
light-weight and a hard rider. When the famine
stopped hunting in Ireland for a time, the celebrated
Lord Waterford brought some of his crack hunters
down to South Devon, with the idea that he would
shew the natives how to ride over their own country.
71
72 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
He was an undeniably good man, but found more
than his match in Tom Lane, whom he could never
beat. The latter had some good horses, and, among
them, two in particular which he bought in the rough
and made himself. They turned out excellent per-
formers, and his friend. Captain Haworth, offered
what, in those days, was considered a fancy price for
the two. But Lane would not part, and on one of
them, called Vingt-et-un, he won several steeple-
chases in days when steeplechasing was far different
from the artificial sport it is to-day. At that time
not a fence was trimmed, not a bank made up, the
course being a natural one. Tom Lane's old friend
Sir Walter Carew also lent him one or two of his best
hunters with an injunction to ride his best " for the
honour of Devon."
Besides being a hard rider, Mr. Lane was a fine
horseman. He was getting on in years when I saw
him in the hunting field in the early 'eighties, some
thirty or more years after he had given up the hounds.
But his figure was as neat and as spare as that of a
young man ; he sat his horse with an easy firmness
that betokened the finished horseman ; and he had
beautiful hands.
That the pack officially retained the name " The
Devon Foxhounds " throughout Lane's mastership
is clear from the hound list for his last season,
1848-9, which will be found at the end of this
chapter, and this is confirmed, if confirmation is
necessary, by the statement of his daughters, Mrs.
Rudge and Mrs. Rawes, who assure me that he never
changed that title. Nevertheless, it would seem to
be during Mr. Lane's tenure of office that the pack
first came to be known or spoken of, popularly at
any rate, as the " South Devon." This is shewn by
THOMAS VEALE LANE 73
the following passage from a book published in the
year 1849.^ After treating of the Eggesford hounds,
the author says :
" The South Devon hounds come next in succes-
sion, that is as regards their country, inasmuch as we
by no means presume to give our opinions . . .
which are or are not the best and which the worst. . . .
But as regards the South Devon hounds, they are a
mixed pack, consisting of twenty-five couple, averag-
ing from twenty-one to twenty-two inches in height,
kept by subscription, and hunted, from all accounts,
admirably by Thomas V. Lane, Esqre. ; the kennels
are at Chudleigh which is about the centre of the
country, which extends sixteen miles or thereabouts
on all sides ; they hunt twice a week, on Mondays and
Thursdays."
A few pages later, the same writer, speaking of
Mr. Trelawny's country, says :
" The South Devon Railway divides the country
lengthways, from Plymouth to Totnes by Ivy Bridge ;
Totnes is in Sir Henry Scale's country, and is in easy
reach of the Devon Hounds. ..."
The fact of the writer applying to the pack its
former as well as its present name — Devon as well
as South Devon — is a pretty clear indication that
the transition from one to the other was then taking
effect.
Forests Guide to the Foxhounds and Staghounds of
England (Gelert), dated 1850 but which bears internal
evidence of having been compiled in anticipation of
the season 1849-50, also speaks of the pack as the
South Devon :
" Sir Henry (Scale) will now hunt a large portion of
the late South Devon country, resigned by Mr. Lane."
^ Exmoor : or, the Footsteps oj St. Hubert in the West (Herbert Byng Hall).
74 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
There can be no question, then, that the title
" South Devon " dates from the time of Tom Lane.
Its origin may have been due to a desire to dis-
tinguish the pack from the " North Devon " which
then existed.
In " Gelert's " Guide^ to the Foxhounds and Stag-
hounds of England, for 1849 (compiled and published
in 1848) the favourite fixtures of the Devon Hounds
are given as : The Round O. ; Oxton ; Ogwell ;
Sandy Gate ; Haccombe ; Furzeley. The only com-
ment is the following : " Mr. Lane is unfortunate in
his country, it being, without doubt, one of the worst
in England " !
While on the subject of the name of the pack, it
may not be amiss to mention here that when, as will
be seen in the next chapter, Sir Henry Scale hunted
the country, the pack went by his name, " Sir Henry
Scale's Hounds." In consequence of this, the name
" South Devon " appears to have been then assumed
for one or two seasons by a pack, formerly known as
" Mr. Morgan's Hounds, "^ hunting a district which
now forms part of the Lamerton country. ^
It is unfortunate that no record of the sport shewn
by Lane appears to have been preserved. So far as
is known, he kept no hunting journal, and the refer-
ences to the pack in the local press are of the most
meagre description. The following are the only notes
I have been able to trace, and it is evident that in
those days people were not given to *' writing up "
their particular pack, for the editor of Woolmer's
Exeter and Plymouth Gazette, from which these are
^ This guide was in the hands of the public in 1848. It is identical with
Fores'a Guide, but does not appear to have been published by Messrs.
Fores until the following season.
^ Fores' 8 Guide for 1850, p. 19.
3 The Foxhunter'a Guide for 1850-1 (Cecil), pp. 57 and 189.
THOMAS VEALE LANE 75
taken, made an appeal to sportsmen about that time
to send him some accounts of runs.
Woolmer's Exeter and Plymouth Gazette, Feb. 6, 1847.
" Thursday 28. — ^The Devon Hounds at the New Inn. —
We have just heard, on going to press,^ that these hounds
had a good run, and killed their fox, at Ingsden — weather
gradually improving.
"The Devon Hounds met on Thursday last week, at the
New Inn. Found a fox near Bovey Heathfield, ran him
through the Stover Covers towards Bradley, where he was
headed ; back again through Stover, and away to Ingsden
Warren, where the gallant hounds ran into him : a very
good hunting run — weather improving. . . .
" Beal-nam-bo."
* Unfortunately the above Report did not reach us till Saturday
morning, and that was after we had gone to press ; but the " Week's
Epitome " of Sport is too well told to be lost. — Edit.
Woolmer's Exeter and Plymouth Gazette, March 13, 1847.
FOXHUNTING IN THE WEST.
" Thursday. — The Devon Hounds met at Goodstone Gate ;
found instantly in Goodstone Plantation, going away at a
good pace to Sigford, running through Bagtor Wood on to
Bagtor Plantation, over the Moor, leaving Rippingtor to the
left, on to Haytor Down to Haytor Rock, thence over that
fine part of the Widdicombe Moors to Bun Hill and Honey
Bank, when it was thought he went to ground. The dinner
on this day, at the Golden Lion, Ashburton, was attended
by a very large party of sportsmen, Sir Bourchier Wrey, Bart.,
in the chair, when the toasts of ' Success to Foxhunting,'
' Long life to the Chairman ' and ' Preservers of Foxes in
this county,' were responded to with many a hearty cheer."
Mr. Lane gave up the pack at the end of the season
1848-9. His eye for a horse appears to have descended
to his grandson, Sir Henry Hoare, Bart., who is often
to be seen judging in the show ring.
76 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
Mr. Lane was a clever painter in oils. Among other
pictures of his are two copies of the original painting
at Haccombe of Sir Walter Carew's Hounds with his
huntsman Beal. One of these is in the possession of
his daughter, Mrs. Rudge at Stede Court, Harriets-
ham. Mr. "\Miidborne had the other, which on Miss
^^^lidbome's death passed to the Watts family.
Here is a copy of the Ust of Lane's Hounds before
referred to. I have corrected a few printer's errors
in spelling which occur in the original.
LIST
OF THE DEVON FOX HOUNDS,
September Ist, 1848.
AGS.
SAMH.
5I2r.
DAil.
" Years
Nectar
Halcvon
Sir A. Chichester's
Cra-wley Veiliant
Sir W. Carew's Niobe
Their Hostess
GYeera
Triumph
Abelard
Flamer
Henbane
Pastime
Crawlev Tvrant
Mr. Ri:^il"5 Ardent
Sir W. Care'R-'s Brusher
Mr. Bulteels Neptune
Crawlev Valentine
Their Stream let
Hi .5 Legacv
Mr. Brand's Fair Maid
Sir W. Carew's Hebe
Their Prudence
5 Years
Ganymede
Gondola
Crawley Gallant
Their Volatile
Dowager
Dairy XfaiH
1
/
Crawley Dandy
Their Hostess
Susan
Vangtiard
Vestns
Countess
Frantic
Surrev Heretic
Rijsse'll's Blue Cap
Crawley Diomed
From CoL Wynd ham's Kennel
Surrey Monitor
Their Splendour
His Vengeance
Their Venus
Their Frolic
4 Years
Waxy
Commodore
Dauntless
DoDy Mop
Barrister
Nobleman
Nestor
\
Mr. Trelawny's Nigel
Duke of Beaufort '3 Charon
From the Crawley KenneU
Mr. Fellowes's Triumph
Mr. Fellowes's Roman
Hi.s Waspish
Mr. Trelawny's Dorcas
Sir W. Carew's Brilliant
Sir W. Carew's Nimble
Dreadnought
Crawley Dandy
Blr. Russell's Vengeance
THO>L\S ^T-ILE L.\XE
LIST OF FOX HOUNDS— <:t:n!-fc.
3 Years
Gad Ac:-
Dexter
Domimci
Deng' AS
Wantcn
Mr. Trela^tnvr VT
itr. Trelawny's Z ;
Sir W. Care-w's Wandaer
I
Yestris
WhaZ-bm-
J
Music
Mr. FeiloTres s FoiloTrer
Sir W. Ckrev's A^irr
Damsel
Sir W. Care-s-'s Wandefer
HsBoe^nd
Rattler
; Lord Yarboroniyh s Pro£g^
Oatdey Ccxnedv
Bestkes
HambiedcHi Gallcper
ThEtr 'Khspsodj
2Yeais
VnVan
>
YieteHv
Sir. Treiawnv's Den 5^
Diseotd
FlIglBIl
\ Oakley POgrim
Mr.BmaeirsFaBM7
lYew
BotBpat
HamBlwI
Sir W. Carews Xorrai
&wMa
Hairasaer
/ Sir W. Care-T 3 Hannibal
Halcym
HimdMaid
)
HsmxRij
J
Pilot
Sir W. Care-w s Trojan
^^stone
Faznoos
Faronte
1 "Seetcx
FrsEtse
Vengeance
'■ Kestor
Te~tn~
CHAPTER VI
SIR HENRY PAUL SEALE, BART.: FIRST
MASTERSHIP, 1849-51
Reputation as M.F.H. — A bitch pack — Hunts his own hounds — His wonderful
voice — Inconvenient situation of kennels — His idea of Devon as a hunting
country — Manages Sir W. Carew's hoiinds for a season — Extracts from
unpublished letters — Purchase of hounds from Mr. Blundell Fortescue —
Country hunted : part loaned from Charles Trelawny ; Curtisknowle and
Woodleigh Woods — Claim still upheld — Extension of country — Favourite
fixtures — Full list of fixtures — Outlj-ing country : kennels overnight at
Dorsely, Totnes — Mr. R. H. Watson's recollections — Memories of Sir
H. Seale — Sir Henry withdraws to his old country — Hound list.
" Stout were his hounds and fleet his steed,
He valued them for bone and breed ;
And rarely failed the day to crown
By hunting till the sun went down."
{Dartmoor Days.)
SIR HENRY PAUL SEALE was one of the
most celebrated sportsmen South Devon has
produced. His father kept a pack of harriers, but
Sir Henry's enthusiasm for liunting led him to
establish a pack of foxhounds, with which he hunted
for many a year, shewing remarkable sport."
So rims the notice that appeared in the Western
Morning News at the time of Sir Henry Scale's death
in 1897. Perhaps the expression " best sportsman "
would have been more fitting than " most celebrated
sportsman " ; for Sir Henry was not given to ostenta-
tion or self-advertisement. His enthusiasm and
success as a master of hounds are, however, well
known, even to a generation that is apt to neglect
78
SIR HEXRY PAUL SEALE. BART,
To fiice page 78
Sm HEXRY PAUL SEALE, BART. 79
interest in past sportsmen of an even comparatively
recent period.
The pack, which was the properb.- of the master
and maintained by him, consisted of bitches only,
averaging about twenty-one inches, and went by the
name of Sir Henr^' Seale's Hounds. A hst, dated
1849, comprising twenty-four couple and a half,
besides puppies, is given at the end of this chapter.
Sir Hemy' hunted the hounds himseh'. " In
addition to his many good qualities as a huntsman.
Sir Hemy- has a fine, manly voice and uses it with
thrilling effect when he has just found his fox : the
echoes in the deep covers of Woodleigh know it well.
Foxes are wild, but lamentably scarce ; and the
country is veiy- difficult for horses, being intersected
by deep lanes and perpendicular ' bottoms.' The
kennels are at Dartmouth where Sir Henry hves. and
are inconveniently situated for the countr\-, beins at
one end of it."i
Sir Henry's wonderful voice is a tradition in South
Devon. It used to be said that it was worth riding
twent\" miles only to hear him draw a woodland.
He was sensible, too, of the poetry of the sport. In
an article on Devonshire hunting reminiscences in
the Wesiern Morning Xeics of a few vears ago, the
writer, after speaking of Sir Henry as a perfect
master and gentleman and referring to his beautiful
voice, quotes the following passage from one of his
letters :
"It is said Devon is not a hunting country- ; but
I have always held it is one of the best for its variety
and charming scenei^-. But a man must be well
mounted and able to ride."
^ Fori.i'i Guidi for ISo*?. p. li.
80 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
We have seen^ that Sir Henry Seale had the entire
management of Sir Walter Carew's hounds at
Haccombe during the season 1842-3, at which time
he was also !Mayor of Dartmouth. Sir Henry's
father, Sir John, seems at first not to have looked
upon the arrangement with unqualified approval, for
Sir Henry says in one of the letters referred to in an
earlier chapter :^ " My father enquires about the
hunting, and seems not to mind it, as I have attended
most closely to the duties of Mayor." In another
letter of later date he says : " My father and mother
came here (Haccombe) on Wednesday to stay a day
or two, and I hope the former has retm^ned home
with a httle better regard for foxliunting than he
came with. I mounted him on my little mare, in
good wind and condition for the roads, and took him
on above the hounds so that he could see them find
(as they did in good style). . . ."
After stating that at a certain point in the middle
of the run, " AMio should appear, but my father, in
the very heat of it ? He had seen the fox cross the
road . . ." he concludes with the remark : " I do
think my father would get on as well as most of the
field now ; he was delighted with the run and the
hounds. . . . Templer dined here afterwards. I
\sish you had been here to hear the old chap talk
over wonderful runs in former days."
From the quotation at the beginning of this
chapter, it appears that Sir John Seale himself kept
a pack of harriers.
It was when Sir Walter Carew gave up his hounds
in 1843 that Sir Henry Seale first started keeping
a pack of his o\^-n. He purchased a remarkably neat
lot of small hounds from Mr. Blundell Fortescue of
1 See p. 43.
SIR HENRY PAUL SEALE, BART. 81
Fallapit and hunted after him, the country south-
west of Stanborough Hill,^ and also that between
Stanborough and the River Dart. A part of this
country belonged to the Dartmoor, and Mi'. R. H.
Watson of Totnes tells me that leave to hunt it was
given to Mr. Fortescue by Charles Trela-s^Tiy. The
part in question seems to have been the Cm-tisknowle
coverts and Woodleigh Woods, a request to hunt
which was made to Mr. Trelawny by Sir Henry Scale
in a letter dated the 12th August, 1846, which is
preserved among the records of the Dartmoor Hunt,
and on which that hunt still bases its claim to the
above-named coverts.
On the retirement of Mr. Lane at the end of the
season 184S-9, Sir Henry Scale extended the field of
his operations in a northerly direction and became
master of the Devon Hounds, or South Devon as they
were beginning to be called, in addition to what he
had been hunting before. Accordingly, we read that
*' Sir Henry will now hunt a large portion of
the late South Devon countrv resigned bv Mr.
Lane " ;- and the same authoritv gives amonor
a list of Sir H. Scale's favourite fixtures : Berry,
Stover Lodge, Dartington Cot, Ogwell, Sandy Gate,
Furzelev and Haccombe — all remilar South Devon
fixtures. 3
For the following season, 1850-1, '* Cecil '" gives
the undermentioned fixtures, which purport to be
taken from the hunting appointments for the
previous year, as Sir Henry Scale's, by which name
the pack continued to be called.^
* Forte's Guide, p. 18.
* Fores's Guide tor 1850 (compiled for the season 184&-o0, see p. 73).
^ See pp. 36 and 63.
* See Hoiind List at end of chapter, also The Fozhuntefe Guide for
1850-1, by " CecU.''
G
82 THE SOUTH DEVOX HUNT
Berr\\ Glaze Gate, 3 miles from Totnes.
Black Down, near Loddiswell, 4 miles from Mod-
bm-y.
Bow Bridge, 3 miles from Totnes.
Bradley, near Xe'v^iion Bushell.
Capton, 4 miles from Dartmouth.
Coleridge, Slapton, 4 miles from Kingsbridge.
Cott Village, 1 mile from Totnes.
Fallowpit, 4 miles from Kingsbridge.
Forcher's or Forger's Cross, 2 miles from Xe^^-ton
Bushell.
Furzeley, Ih miles from Ashbui'ton.
Gara or Gerah Bridge, 5 miles from Modbury.
Glaize Bridge, 5 miles from Totnes.
Harberton Ford, 3 miles from Totnes.
Hembur\' Clump, 2 J miles from Ashburton.
Holne Cot, 3 miles from Ashbm-ton.
Moreleigh Toll Bar, 6 miles from Totnes.
X'ew Bridge, Ih miles from Ashbiuton.
New Inn, Ilsington, 5 miles from Ashburton.
X'orton Daney, Ih miles from Dartmouth.
Ogwell, 2 miles from X'ewton Bushell.
Rulster or Roster Bridge, 3h miles from Totnes.
Slapton Green, 6J miles from Ashbm'ton.
Spitchwick, 4 miles from Ashburton.
Stanborough, 7^ miles from Dartmouth.
Staverton Bridge, 3 miles from Totnes.
Tor-bryan, 4 miles from Xewton Bushell.
Wiiddon, 2J miles from X'^ewton Bushell.
Sir Henry Seale hunted this extended country
during the two seasons 1849-50 and 1850-1. As will
hereafter be seen, he came a second time to the rescue
of the South Devon a few years later. In the interval,
he continued to hunt the countrv he first started in.
SIR HEXRY PAUL SEALE, BART. 83
Some of the places mentioned, e.g. Holne, Hembury
and Xew Bridge, were too far to be reached from
the Dartmouth kennels, and, when meeting at such,
the pack went overnight to Dorsely, near Totnes,
where they were kennelled for that and the night
after hunting in a barn beloncrincr to Mr. R. H.
"Watson. I have already mentioned this gentleman's
name in a casual way. He has been a keen hunting
man all his long life, ha^-ing hunted with the Old
Berks, the Bicester, the V.W.H., the X. Warwick-
shire, the P\i:chley, the Badminton and other good
packs, besides a great deal in Devon. And as his
first day with hounds was as long ago as 1837, with
J. C. Bulteel, he has had time to fit in more sport
than falls to the share of most men. Though born in
1826. and therefore in the 90th vear of his acre, he is
still as active in body and as clear in mind as a man
of sixty, but he no longer hunts.
Mr. Watson says : *' It was always a great treat to
hear Sir Henr\"'s fine voice in drawing the coverts,
and his horn was a noted one. No day was too long
for him. I have left off with him by moonhght at
Spitchwick — fox to the rocks. Up to the date of his
selling Mount Boone and other lands, he hunted two
days a week. He told me that, had he known he
should have had so much money left after the sale, he
would never have given up his hounds."
The last observation, however, has reference to the
period of Sir Henry's second mastership.
AMien Mr. Wiidborne took the South Devon, in
1851, Sir Henry withdrew to the country below
Totnes, which he continued to hunt.
84
THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
LIST
OF SIR HENRY P. SEALE'S FOX-HOUNDS,
April, 1849.
AGE.
NAME.
SIRE.
DAM.
8 Years
Wishful
Oakley Workman
Oakley Diligent
Anxious
Mr. Bui tee) 's \Miirligig
Sir W. Carew's Actress
Wanton
Mr. Parry's Workman
His Flattery
7 Years
Tipsy
Sir J. Cope's Tospot
His Arrogant
Crony
Mr. L. Steer's Auditor
His Chantress
Restless
Surrey Jester
Siu-rey Rivulet
Glory
Mr. Bulteel's Ravisher
Sir W. Carew's Governess
NeUy
Sir A. Chichester's
Sir W. Carew's Niobe
Amazon
Sir W. Ceirew's Barrister
His Actress
5 Years
Trinket
Oakley W^arrior
Their Columbine
Fugitive
Mr. Fortescue's Brusher
Mr. Brand's Fairmaid
Humorous
Mr. Fortescue's Barrister
His Hoebe
Rapsody
Sir R. Sutton's Joker
Lord Southampton's Rapid
Wanton
Sir W. Carew's
His WTialebone
Frolic "\
Rosebud /
Warwickshire Tarquin
Wanderer
Heythrop
4 Years
Riot
Mr. Fellowes'
Tiverton
3 Years
Blemish
Sir W. Carew's Abel
His Bounty
Baroness
Mr. Fellowes' Triumph
Sir W. Carew's Brilliant
Concord
Mr. A. Smith's Royalist
His Chaplet
Delicate
Oakley Ferryman
Oakley Delicate
Dinah
Oakley Ferrjonan
Oakley Dinah
Hemlock
Mr. Russell's Vaulter
Vine Victory
Proserpine
Duke Rutland's PItmder
Heythrop Pastime
Mercury )
Minstrel j
Mr. Russell's Vaulter
Mr. Toat's Victory
Caroline
Mr. Trelawney's
2 Years
Spangle
Frantic |
Oakley Shiner
Their Frantic
Fairmaid \
Mr. Drake's Fugleman
Mr. Lowndes' Folly
Fathful j
Nimble \
Nancy j
1 Nerval
Sir W. Carew's Nancy
Tragedy \
Telltale /
' Sir W. Cswew's Wanderer
Quom Tragedy
SIR HENRY PAUL SEALE, BART. 85
AGE.
NAME.
SIRE.
DAM.
2 Years
Gaylass
Duke of Buccleugh's
Welcome
Mr. Trelawney's Douglas
Oakley Welcome
Trackless
Mr. A. Smith's Trackless
His Fashion
Achmet \
Actress I
Mr. Bulteel's Norval
Sir W. Carew's Angry
Ariel
Truelove
Duke of Rutland's Tamerlain
Mr. Lowndes' Termagant
1 Year
Rosalind
Mr. RusseU's Vaulter
Duke of Rutland's
Rosalind
Rattlesnake
Riot
Mr. Fellowes' Trifle
Dreadnought
Lord Waterford's Drayman
Crawley and Horsham
Charmer
Streamlet
Her Majesty's Stag Hounds
Pastime
Oakley Warrior
Mr. Lowndes' Patience
Bomity
Warwickshire Benedict
Warwickshire Purity
UNENTERED.
Julia
Gamble
Dowager
Favorite
Rocket
Harmony
Harmless
Mr. Fellowes' Joker
Mr. Drake's Gainsborough
Lord Redesdale's Agent
Oakley Factor
Mr. Drake's Fugleman
Warwickshire Hannibal
Rapsody
Warwickshire Rally
do. Dauntless
do. Priestess
do. Rachel
do.
Bluebell
(CRANFORD TYP.)
CHAPTER VII
JOHN WHIDBORNE: FIRST MASTERSHIP 1851-56
Piirchase of hounds from Sir Henry Seale — Limits of country defined by
Whidbome in a letter to Dr. Gaye : from the Exe to the Dart and from
Exeter to Totnes — Business occupations — Previously master of harriers —
Kennels at Buddleford, Teignmouth — Churchward and Babbage — The
pack called the " South Devon " — Extent and varied character of country
— A long chase — Visits North Devon : quaint accoimt of a rvm — Mr.
Whidbome's retirement : a presentation.
" They talked of dangers past and days to come ;
And, as around the mantling claret passed.
Drank to new joys more rapturous than the last."
(A Day at Ashbury. By Geo. Templer.)
IT was in the year 1851 that Mr. Whidborne took
over the mastership of the South Devon Hounds, ^
the greater part of his pack consisting of hounds
purchased from his predecessor, Sir Henry Seale.
The country then forming the South Devon
country was thus defined by Mr. Whidborne -^
" Throughout my first term of mastership I always
considered that the South Devon country embraced
the whole tract between the rivers Exe and Dart,
from Exeter to Totnes, and running north-westward
in the direction of and out over Dartmoor to, at
least, the main road leading from Two Bridges to
Moretonhampstead, Dunsford and Exeter ; and I
believe that it in fact extended far beyond that road,
as there was no other established pack of foxhounds
hunting any part of that country ; and until Mr.
J Letter from Mr. Whidbome to Dr. Gaye, dated 7th April, 1-S90.
86
JOHN WHIDBORNE
To face page 86
JOHN ^^'HrDBORXE 87
Bragg began to keep foxhounds a few years ago and
laid claim to part of the coiintr\*, I never heard any-
thing inconsistent with the whole of the district I
have named being South Devon countiy-."
At the time when ^Mlidbo^ne began to hunt the
country* he was a solicitor in practice at Teignmouth
in partnership with my grandfather and father. He
was also a partner in the banking firm of Watts,
"\Miidbome and Moir.. and he had married a sister of
the senior partner, Mr. William John Watts, of
Xewton Abbot. The head ofi&ce of the bank was at
Teignmouth, and there were branches at Xewton
Abbot, DawUsh and Ashburton, from all of which it
wiU be realized that Mr. ^^^lidbome was a pretty'
busy man.
Previous to taking over the South Devon Fox-
hounds, ^Miidbome had kept harriers at Teignmouth,
his kennels being at Buddleford Farm, about a mile
and a half outside the town below the road over
Haldon to Exeter. These kennels he afterwards
used for the South Devon Hounds.
Churchward, who had been with Mr. Lane, was his
huntsman, and Babbage liis whip. This Babbage,
I beheve, was the same Babbage who in later vears
was with the Rev. Jack RusseU.
The pack was now caUed The South Devon, and
the hunting appointments were advertised under
that title, sometimes with, and sometimes without,
the addition (in brackets) of "' Mr. "SMiidborne's."
As will be seen from the boundaries above stated,
the countrv was of great extent. It also varied
greatly in character, comprising large woodlands,
cultivated land — chiefly arable in those days — and
open moorland.
The following is an outhne gathered from an
88 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
account of a good day's sport on the 4th February,
1854, that appeared at the time in Trewman's Exeter
Flying Post.
The pack met at Powderham Arch and drew
Powderham, Warborough and Kenton Common
blank. In Mamhead a fox was found and killed with
a gin on his foot. It was then two o'clock and raining
hard. The field began to grumble : it is a way fields
have when things go like that, but it does not help
much in mending matters. The master was not out,
but Churchward persevered steadily, and in the Hang
of Haldon, at the back of Oxton, he hit the line of a
moved fox which took the pack in the direction of the
Round O. Then a holloa from that good friend to
hunting, Mr. Short of Bickham, put the hounds on
terms with their fox, which skirted Bickham and
entered the Round O. Here a brace was afoot, and
the pack divided. Nine couple went away with one
fox over the racecourse, crossed the Plymouth road
some way below the Race Stand, and on to the
Belvidere and Haldon House, where they dwelt for
some time in the coverts. During this time the
huntsman, with the rest of the pack, raced the other
fox through Bickham and Trehill to Kenn and
Powderham, to a drain, whence he was bolted and
killed. Meanwhile the first lot recovered the line of
their fox, and, followed by eight of the field, ran him
to Shillingford and Peamore, back through Shilling-
ford over Squire Whippel's farm and once more to
Peamore, where the earths were stopped. Then, with
Fretful, Rattler, Waggish and Rosslyn leading, they
went at a great pace by Little Silver coverts to
Pearce's Hill and nearly to Exminster, by Mr.
Burrington's farmyard to Crablake Farm, and turn-
ing righthanded to No Man's Land, and over Soper's
JOHN WHIDBORNE 89
and Rowe's farms, ran into their fox in the open at
the back of Kennford village. Only one, the writer
of the account, saw the find and finish.
Like other masters, Whidborne used occasionally
to take his hounds into North Devon by invitation.
That they could acquit themselves as well in a
strange country as at home, is shewn by the account
which I reproduce from a faded manuscript which I
had from Miss Whidborne, the master's only child.
The composition is sufficiently quaint to justify my
giving the report verbatim.
" An account of a memorable run with Squire Whidborne's
Foxhounds in the year 1854, by one who was in a forward
position.
" The day was fine, the temperature at 40°, the spirits were
high and Diana propitious. Unkennelled from a small patch
of gorse in the parish of Withypoole. There was no room
for the varmint to dwell. He was off instanter. Though one
of the greyhound foxes and of the indigenous sort, he did not
presume on his strength, but started for his life. The field
was on the qui vive, and emulated each other in the pursuit.
On ! on ! on ! was the cry at a rattling pace over Exford
Common, Peckedstone Honeymead on to Simonsbath. Here
the varmint crossed the Barle at a right angle to Cornham.
This was his furthest point from home. From Cornham to
Darleigh, Sandyway over Hawkridge Common to Hawk-
ridge Parsonage Farm. Here an amusing episode took place
denoting the impulse of the animal and human nature. A colt,
just one and a half year old, of the old pack breed, joined
the hounds, jumped the fence with the leaders into Nortli
Barton Wood, dashed through the Barle river, and up over
Par Wood to Winsford Common. Here his master by a
circuitous route caught sight of his colt who was going at full
speed and the greatest excitement in the middle of the pack.
A stentorian cry issued from the master's mouth, ' Do'ee
plase, do'ee plase, stop the yearling.' On the heedless
animal went, regardless of his master's cries, through heather
90 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
and brake, water and fences till he came to a wall of packed
stones. Here is a hunting gate through which the field
passed and shut ; cutting off young Nimrod's career. There
he slept in a sorrowful mood that night. We have been off
the scent ; let us cast back. The run continued over Wins-
ford Hill, Room Hill on to the Gorse where Reynard was
found. We all looked forward with anxious expectation for
the woo-whoop ; men and horses were blown and longed for
a respite, when a tally was heard towards the moor. We
eyed each other with astonishment. We had no time to
recruit the respiratory organs, but screwed up our nerves,
urged on our steeds, and went at it again. A good deal of the
second round was over the same ground, but within the first
circle. The pace was slower. All began to lag, hounds,
horses, riders. The stamina had ebbed. The plucky varmint
pursued the even tenor of his course with draggled brush
back over Hawkridge Common to Worth Farm. Here he
was viewed in an exhausted condition and in company with
two of the leading hounds by farmer Heyes who went at him
with bisgey in hand, when Reynard crawled up one of the
high beech hedges and disappeared like a witch of old. It
only wanted the kill to make it one of the best runs on
record. The first round was about 18 miles.
The second 14 ,,
32 „
After that, one can understand that the respiratory
organs should want recruiting !
At the end of the season 1855-6, Mr. Whidborne
retired, his hounds going again to Sir Henry Scale.
On his retirement, he was presented with a silver
hunting-horn by two of his admirers, Mr. T. Bowen
May and Mr. R. Harris. As we shall see, however, in
a later chapter of the history of the hunt, he was
destined again to wear the master's cap of office after
the lapse of twenty-six years.
CHAPTER VIII
SIR HENRY PAUL SEALE, BART.: SECOND
MASTERSHIP, 1856-6.5
Again extends country to include South Devon — Actually master of the
South Devon — The Field quoted — The late Mr. R. F. Rendell's accovmt
of a great run : " The Conqueror " conquered — Dick Tucker and liis covrs
— Story of Mr. T. C. Kellock — A latter-day hiint in Sir Henry's old country
— Powers as hvmtsman — Withdraws to his old coimtry — Sixteen times
Mayor of Dartmouth — His great age — Revival of hunting in his old
country — Mr. Cubitt at Fallapit — Pack known as " Mr. CXibitt's Hotmds "
— Mr. W. F. Brimskill starts a new pack — His good intentions frustrated —
Hound sale at Totnes — Purchases by jNIr. Whidbome for the South Devon.
" ' Buller of Dean, give me the head ;
You take the brush,' Trelawny said ;
' Go bear it to your infant boy,
And deck his cradle with the toy.' "
{Dartmoor Days.)
ON Mr. \ATiidborne's resignation at the end of
the season 1855-6, Sir Henry Scale bought his
hounds and again extended his own country to
include what then constituted the South Devon
country, or at any rate a considerable portion of it.
As far as can be judged (he w^as very irregular in
sending his appointments to the Field), he did not
very often hunt the country above Totnes. Still,
though the pack retained his name, he was actually
and of right the master of the South Devon country,
no other master appearing until 1865, when Mr.
Westlake came into office. In the Field of January
9th, 1864, Sir Henry Scale's hounds are advertised
to meet at Berry, and in the same issue of that paper
91
92 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
appears an account of a run with " The South Devon
(Sir Henry Scale's)."
It is most unfortunate that, though a record of Sir
Henry's hunting career is known to exist, it cannot
at the present time be found.
The late Mr. Robert Francis Rendell of Kingston
kindly supplied me with the following account of a
memorable run that took place in the month of April
in or about the year 1862. Mr. Rendell was then
living at Willing, where he went in 1859, and his
recollection is that the run in question took place
two or three years after he went there.
Having drawn all the Dartington coverts blank
after meeting at Shinners Bridge, a brace of foxes
were disturbed in Winnard's Copse in the late after-
noon. The pack got away on the line of the dog fox
and raced him to Willing Copse and across Willing
Farm, where Mr. Rendell viewed him scarcely two
hundred yards in front of the pack. He says that
never, before or since, has he seen such a grand fox.
The hounds ran on to Marley unattended, the pace
having beaten off the whole field. Here Anning, Sir
Walter Carew's keeper, set off in pursuit on his pony
and, thanks to his knowledge of the country and of
the run of foxes, managed to cut in with the tail
hounds on the moor. The fox went over Brent Hill
to Over Brent Wood, on to Shipley Bridge and right
out over Zeal Plain to the top and was killed at
Erme Pound. Anning found the hounds lying down
around the fox unbroken. He carried him back to
Marley in front of his saddle and sent the brush to
Mr. Tom Carew. This same fox had been run several
times by Trelawny's hounds, and, by always beating
them, had earned the sobriquet of '' the Conqueror."
Another story, the truth of which is also vouched
SIR HENRY PAUL SEALE, BART. 93
for, tells how, when the master was casting his
hounds at a check, the late Mr. T. C. Kellock of
Totnes (whose sons are to be seen among the field
to-day) called out : " He has gone this way." " How
do you know ? " exclaimed the astonished master.
*' / can smell him, Sir Henry ! " came the answer,
and, sure enough, he was right. At the next check,
the master turned in his saddle with the remark :
" Where is Kellock ? Send for Kellock ! "
It has been stated, in the chapter dealing with his
first mastership, that no day was too long for Sir
Henry. The same cannot apparently be said of Dick
Tucker, who at one time whipped-in to him. People
were then less fastidious than they are nowadays,
and Tucker used to employ the intervals between his
duties in field and kennel with other work, which
included the milking of cows. The story goes that
one day, in the Berry country, after drawing blank
until nearly four o'clock, the hounds at last hit a cold
line from Tunner's Bottom and, when pointing in the
direction of Wildwoods, they began to freshen up a
bit. They were promptly stopped by old Tucker.
One of the long-suffering field, seeing his last fond
hopes shattered in this way, rode up and exclaimed :
*' Why, Tucker, if you had left the hounds alone, we
should have found that fox at Wildwoods." " Oh !
Yes," was the old man's answer, " hut what time
should I have milked my cows ? "
During this. Sir Henry's second mastership, the
Field gives the strength of the pack at twenty-eight
couple, and his whips as the aforesaid Dick Tucker
and George Wakeham.
It may not be amiss to allude in this place to the
occasion, a quarter of a century after Sir Henry had
given up his hounds, when the South Devon, under
94 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
the mastership of Dr. Gaye, met at Norton Park, Sir
Henry's seat at Dartmouth, on or about the 5th
December, 1889, a report of which appeared in the
local press at the time. The master was the guest of
Sir Henry overnight, and he also put up the pack and
the hunt servants and entertained the field at break-
fast the next morning.
Lord's Wood was drawn blank, and so were the
coverts by Old Mill. The pack then went to
Downton Wood, a noted find in the old days, accord-
ing to old Dick Crocker, at one time huntsman to
Mr. Charles Trelawny. He had formerly whipped
in to Sir Henry Scale and was out on this occa-
sion.
Here, in Downton Wood, a brace were found, and
the pack ran one to Kingston Broadridge, to Capton
and on to Hemborough, where he looked like making
for North Hills Plantation, the property of Mr.
Netherton, of harrier fame, who was one of the field ;
but the fox turned short and ran through the Norton
coverts, down to Old Mill and on to Lord's Wood,
where hounds were stopped, as they were so far from
kennel and the day was waning.
The newspaper reporter, in his account of the
day's proceedings, says : " Sir Henry accompanied
us on horseback nearly the whole time." He was
then eighty-three years of age, and one can imagine
the memories which such a day must have conjured
up in the mind of the veteran. He continues :
" It has often been said, by those who had the
privilege of hunting with Sir Henry, that his musical
cheer to hounds when drawing a covert, was worth
riding any number of miles to hear and was never
forgotten ; and that very few men could ever, when
they had found their fox, get their hounds out of the
SIR HENRY PAUL SEALE, BART. 95
big hanging coverts that he drew as quickly as he
could. At his well-known cheer, every hound would
fly to him like magic, and this explains the large
number of foxes that he yearly accounted for."
When Mr. Westlake succeeded to the South Devon
in 1865, Sir Henry Scale once more withdrew to his
old country between Dartmouth and Kingsbridge.
That Sir Henry was sixteen times Mayor of Dart-
mouth Hardness testifies to his popularity and to the
respect in which he was held. He died in 1897 at the
age of ninety -one.
[A revival of hunting in " Sir Henry Scale's
country " took place in the year 1870, when Mr.
William Cubitt, residing at Fallapit, established a
pack of foxhounds there composed of drafts from the
Bicester and Lord Poltimore's, which he hunted at
his own expense. He is described as a capital sports-
man and a bold rider. The field on the opening day
comprised such men as Mr. John Bulteel, Sir Walter
Carew, Captains Uniacke, Twysden, Hazard, Stanley
Lowe, General Birdwood, Messrs. Holds worth. Wool-
combe, St. Aubyn, J. H. Square, H. R. Fortescue,
Hare, and Pitts, so that Mr. Cubitt would appear to
have been well received and supported. His pack,
known as " Mr. Cubitt's Hounds," also took part in
the Ivybridge Hunt Week at the end of the season.
Nevertheless, for some reason which does not appear,
the pack lasted only two seasons.
In the spring of 1872 Mr. W. F. Brunskill under-
took to hunt the country vacated by Mr. Cubitt.
The consent of the landowners was obtained, a pack
was formed of drafts from the Blackmore Vale, Lord
Coventry's, the Heythrop, the Worcestershire and
other kennels, and Pattle, from the Earl of Shannon,
96 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
was engaged as huntsman. Cubhunting was actually
started ; but, before the regular season opened, the
master found himself compelled to abandon the idea,
and the hounds and horses were sold at Totnes on the
24th October, 1872. The former, comprising twenty-
six couple and a half, realized two hundred and
thirty-six guineas, and the latter, nine hunters and
three carriage horses, eight hundred and sixty-four
guineas. Mr. Whidborne bought for the South
Devon two lots of hounds of three couple and a half
each, one for thirty-eight guineas and the other for
forty-four guineas. Of the horses, the highest price
fetched was a hundred and twenty-two guineas.]
THOMAS WESTLAKE
To face page 07
CHAPTER IX
THOMAS WESTLAKE: 1865-75
" Old Westlake's time " : a standard of merit — Unanimous praise —
Anstruther Thomson — Recollections of living persons : Mr. Albert Gould ;
Mr. Geo. Hext ; Mr. W. C. Clack ; Mr. J. C. Clack ; Mr. R. Vicary ; Mr.
H. S. Wright — Endurance and horsemanship — " A little bit in the
riding " — Rest after toil — Rev. W. H. Thornton quoted — Favourite
horses — Knowledge of run of foxes — A disconcerting answer — A native of
North Devon — Rev. W. C. Clack and the ruling passion — ISIr. Walker
King — Kennels at Kingsteignton — A presentation — Early difficulties —
Criticized by The Devonian of 1828 — Major R. C. Tucker's explanation —
The critic satisfied — Hounds — Hunt servants — W. Sara ; W. Derges —
Rmis — Mr. Cole's Harriers — Red deer in Buckland Woods — Keepers'
dinner — A complimentary dinner — More runs — A change of secretary —
An historic run : opinion of Charles Trelawny ; account in Baily — Resigna-
tion— Presented with silver cup — A lost horn.
" Full well the wily fox he knows.
His habits and the point he goes ;
Nor is there on the Western ground
A better judge of horse and hound."
[Dartmoor Days.)
THOUGH forty years have passed since Mr.
Westlake's mastership ended, it is not rare
even to-day to hear his sayings and doings invoked
as an authority on hunting matters. Not so many
years ago, " Old Westlake's time " was the accepted
standard by which everything connected with the
hunt was judged. One used to wonder whether it
was merely a case of laudator temporis acti ; whether
the sport he shewed was really so good as we were
told it was, and whether he w^as indeed the great
huntsman he was reputed to be. Although first-
hand information at this distance of time is some-
H 97
98 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
what scanty, I do not think there has been any
exaggeration in regard to him. For all through the
years — and I began to hunt only two or three years
after he retired — I cannot remember ever hearing an
unfavourable criticism of him. Colonel Anstruther
Thomson had a good word for him in his speech
at the Dartmoor Hunt Dinner at Ivybridge in 1872. ^
Men of sound judgment who still remember him are
unanimous in his praise.
Mr. Albert Gould, now of Pinhoe, who has seen
sport with many packs and who hunted much with
Westlake, tells me that he always thought him the
best huntsman he ever had the pleasure of hunting
with. Mr. Gould draws a touching picture of the old
man — by the way, no one seems to have known Mr.
Westlake as a young man — arriving at the covert-
side with his hunting-crop slung over one shoulder
and a soft shoe on one foot, and of his throwing his
hounds into cover and then resting the gouty foot on
the top bar of the gate while he listened intently for
the first challenge. He wanted no holloa to verify a
find for he knew every tongue in the pack ; and
when you heard his " Go hoick ! " which he pro-
nounced " Go hi ! " you could depend that it was
right. He was a martyr to the gout at times, and
Mr. George Hext tells how he would then, if anyone
rode too close to him, utter his crescendo " Mind my
leg, sir. Mind my leg, sir ! Mind my leg, sir ! "
He was much annoyed on one occasion, the very
last that he hunted the country, because Mr. Gould
and George Loram purposely let go from the drain in
Well Covert a fox which had given a good run and
which Westlake wanted to kill. But he was pacified
when, at the end of another twenty minutes, the pack
^ Col. Anstruther Thomson, op. cit,, Vol. II, p. 81.
THOMAS WESTLAKE 99
rolled the fox over in a farmyard among a lot of
bullocks.
Mr. William Com-tenay Clack— the "Billy Clack"
of his intimates — who in his young days whipped-in
to VVestlake, his brother, Mr. J. C. Clack, and Mr.
C. E. R. Walker concur in Mr. Gould's estimate of
Westlake's qualities as a huntsman, and add that he
was excellent on the horn too, and that his cheery
voice when^ fox was found was a treat to hear, and
they speak of the wonderful sport Westlake con-
sistently shewed.
Mr. Robert Vicary, who hunted much with West-
lake and speaks of having seen him ride many a hard
day in a carpet slipper, describes him as a fine fellow
and very handsome man, some fourteen to fifteen
stone in weight, but very clever at getting over a
country on Sprig of Shillelagh and Tommy ; the
former, thoroughbred and a " fair wonder," picked up
for a few sovereigns.
Mr. H. S. Wright, whose father, the late Mr. John
Wright of Newton Abbot, was one of the guarantors
and chief members of Mr. Westlake's Committee, has
also a very lively recollection of him and of his
powers as a huntsman. As an instance of Westlake's
endurance in the saddle, Mr. Wright mentions the
circumstance that he would at certain periods, after
hunting his hounds all day, and taking only a short
interval for dinner, start off on a fresh horse from
Kingsteignton for Okehampton to be ready to collect
his rents in that locality next day.
He was an excellent horseman too, and, though he
never had out more than one horse a day, he was
never known to fail to bring him home at night,
however long or severe the run might have been.
Mr. Wright also tells of how a young gentleman once
100 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
bought a horse on which he had seen "Westlake lead
the field in his usual brilliant style on a certain
occasion when mounted on him by Mr. Harris of
Wood, who had the animal on hire from a dealer.
After cutting a sorry figure on him the following
week, the purchaser complained to Westlake that he
could not get the beast along. " Well, well, sir," was
the answer, " there's a little bit in the riding — there's
a little bit in the riding." The horse was one, in
Westlake's words, that went nicely enough on the
grass, but that you had to " pick along " through
dirt, and that, down-hill, shook himself to pieces.
Yet he had gone as usual on him. Truly, there is a
very big " little bit " in the riding !
He was fond of a rubber of whist. " I used to go
out to Westlake's house at Kingsteignton," ^\Tites
Mr. R. Vicary, " to partner him at whist against
Robert Baker and the Hunt secretary, Harry Michel-
more — two good players against two very indifferent
ones — but we had more than our share of the luck.
Westlake was a bit slow — at whist — and, when our
adversaries hurried him, he would reply : ' But I
must consider, sir ! ' "
A favourite expression with the old man, when
speaking of hunting, was : " I am natturly (naturally)
fond of it, sir."
Mr. Vicary tells me he did not breed many hounds
but relied a good deal on drafts which he bought
mostly from Lord Portsmouth.
It was Westlake's habit on the evening of a hunt-
ing day to bring two or three favourite hounds into
his cosy parlour at Oakford, Kingsteignton. There,
stretched at full length before the fire, they would
rest, the while their master enlarged upon their
THO>L\S ^^'ESTLAKE 101
merits or the sport of the day over a bottle of
sherry.
" And here and there upon the ground
Whimpers a happy dreaming hound :
The pioneers of many a run
Thus honoured when the chase is done."^
His companion on these evenings was often Mr.
George Hext,. then a young man U\'ing at his father's
^'icarage hard by, whose taste in sport and sherrj' has
matured with the lapse of years. One may be
pardoned for wondering whether he is the " Mr.
George " of one of the many amusing stories related
by the Rev. W. H. Thornton in his delightfully
\^Titten Reminiscences. -
In another passage, Mr. Thornton says of West-
lake :
" He was rather deaf, and would often make me
listen for him, but his keenness of sight was wonderful.
I have seen him ball a fox on a dry and dusty turn-
pike road as he went down it at a canter. The feat
seems an impossible one, but I saw liim perform it
near to Goodstone Gate, on the road which leads to
Halsanger. He coidd see at a distance of fifty paces
where a single hound had passed through a covert.
' Look at the leaves, sir, look at the leaves ; where
are your e^'es ? Now, you listen for me. Can you
hear 'em ? ' "
Mr. Westlake had some good horses, the best known
to fame being Sprig o' Shillelagh, a black blood horse
'^'ith a white face, which had been steeplechased in
the days of Barumite and Allow Me. Nothing could
touch Sprig on the moor. Charlie and Tommy, the
latter bought from ^Ir. Soper of Bishopsteignton,
^ Dartmoor Days.
* Retninigcencea of an Old West-Country Clergyman, p. 347.
102 THE SOLTH DEVON HUNT
were also very good. But he was a comparatively
pcor man, and had to save his cattle as much as
possible, in which he was considerably helped by his
eye for a country and knowledge of the run of foxes.
A lady who knew liis talents in this respect, once
asked him at the beginning of a run where the fox
was going, and got for answer : "I don't know, my
dear. IVe not asked him, my dear ! " His great
knowledge of woodcraft and of the habits of foxes
was also of material assistance in his extensive and
rough country.
Mr. Westlake was a North Devon man of the fine
old yeoman class. Before coming to South Devon he
Hved at the Manor House, Exboume, and kept a pack
of hounds kennelled near by at his own place, Wood
Hall, which property has been the home of the
Westlakes for nearly five hundred years.
He first settled with his pack at Moretonhampstead
somewhere about the year 1861. what time the Rev.
William Courtenay Clack of the same place kept
a pack of harriers with which he hunted the country
around there. Mr. Clack was so strongly imbued with
the passion for the chase, that in later years when he
was going blind, he used to make his man ride before
him on a white horse ; and it was only when he was
no longer able to see his pilot that he gave up hunting
altogether. This, however, is no longer a record.
Last season (1914-15) I had the pleasure of meeting
in the field on Hal don Mr. Walker King who is stone
blind, despite which, chaperoned by his daughter, he
is a regular follower of the Devon and Somerset.
Truly a touching tribute to the strength of the ruling
passion !
Jn 1863, in consequence of Sir Hemy Seale being
unable to cover the whole of the South Devon
THOMAS WESTLAKE lOS
coimtiy, Westlake accepted the o&r to take ids
into that coontrv ooce a week. Two yeais affcerwaids,
in I&60, he was fomiaDv appointed master d tibe
South Devon in sacoesskm to Sir Hauy, and tfaoe-
upon moved to Oakfnd, KingsteigiiftQii, and built
kenneis in the ordiard adjoiomg. Yandbig tlidr
romplftkm, the pack was kefmeDed for a time in the
dlav cellars at Teignbridge. Hie Oakfcad k^«ii>glg joe
stiQ in exist^ice and for the past Iwenly yeazs hare
been oeca^^ed by the Haldon Haniexs. On learBig
Mc^etcmhampstead Mr. Westlake was psesented witii
a atva huntiiig-faoin bearing the foflowii^ inscx^
ti<xi :
PitMmted to
Maretam Friatds
1865.
The success to which Westlakt - :
adueved all in a momfnt, R is ^
first seas<HL so far as coocexned kilfe^ f:xr<
Xewtcm side ol the country, was a £ufaire. 7
was pubheh" ecHmnerafced upon by "The I>e
1828* 1 and is adimtted by Major R. l
Ashburton, a friend and suppoft^ of Westlake
one oi. the hard-nding drrtsaon of tii: '
caiefuDy kept hunting-diary. Major I
for this in part by thae bdng no re^
to the pack daring t^ first two season -
that he hopes to see better tinys, as a -r
to be engaged. Hk entries ft* the sc
are also prefaced by the remark. " Mr. W
» Mr. C- A. Hi^_-
104 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
new draft, of which great things are expected." His
hopes were amply fulfilled, and in the following
see,son "The Devonian of 1828" himself paid this
public testimony to the improvement in the hunt :
" This is only the second year of the pack " (which was
true in a breeding sense although it was the third season)
" and there has not been sufficient time for a home entry.
There is, however, in the kennel sufficient blood of fashion
and quality in the stud bitches to ensure a good working
entry for another year. Among others is Hostess, a Belvoir
tan by the Duke of Beaufort's Harlequin, one of the cele-
brated Spangle litter, out of Sir W. Wynn's Mistletoe ;
Harlequin by the Morrell Hercules out of Spangle by Sunder-
land by Assheton Smith's Saffron, by the Duke of Rutland's
Splendour. Hostess is undeniable in her shape, and a
forcing hound. . . .
" Nemesis, Majesty, and Sempstress are fine shaped
hounds, the former being a model of a Devonshire foxhound
of 22 inches. Liberty and Lexicon are ever forward, and
amongst the young hounds Dreadnought might take his
place in any kennel. It is pleasant to see a new establish-
ment forming itself gradually, and giving signs of coming
worth ; for even if without those ample means which make
success possibly attainable at a short notice, yet judgment,
science, and perseverance in the end will accomplish to a
certainty that which cannot be attained without those
requisites."
Will Sara was engaged as whip in 1867, and after
three seasons was followed by Charles Stephens and
then by R. Jennings. In 1872 Jennings made room
for William Derges, who had been in the kennels
since 1868 and remained there until Westlake gave
up, when he went into the service of Mr. R. Vicary.
Derges has since whipped-in to the South Devon at
various times under different masters, and for many
years past has been back in his old kennel at Oak-
THOMAS WESTLAKE 105
ford as huntsman to the Haldon Harriers. He is
active and keen still, and though, in consequence of
a severe accident four or five years ago, he had to
stand down and let a younger man take the horn for
a season or two, he has now resumed command in
the field. 1
Major Tucker's diary shews that the country was
full of foxes when Westlake first took the South
Devon, and the frequency with which hounds changed
foxes was one of the prevailing causes for the scarcity
of kills. The foxes around Torbryan and Dyer's
Wood continually baffled the pack and appeared to
bear charmed lives during the first season or two.
Notwithstanding this, many a good run took place
even in those early days. Thus on the 13th November,
1865, a "really good run " of an hour and thirty-two
minutes is recorded in the diary just mentioned, all
around the Ogwell country, resulting in losing the
fox in the fateful Dyer's Wood. That was after a
quick thirty-six minutes to ground in the morning.
On the 20th of the same month, three foxes were
hunted unsuccessfully in the Denbury country, the
foot-people interfering with the sport ; and of three
others found in and around Stover on the 27th, two
got to ground and one was lost, the latter after an
hour and a half's slow hunting run. Better luck
attended the pack on Haldon, where, curiously
enough, they more frequently killed than on the
Newton side. On the last day of the same month of
November a field of sixty, which included Sir Walter
Carew and his two daughters and Mr. Whidborne
and his daughter, met the pack at Wood. A Lind-
^ I regret to say that since these lines were written Derges has died from
the effects of a chill after hunting the Haldon all through the past season of
1915-16.
106 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
ridge fox ran through the Sands to Bellamarsh and
back to Well Covert, thence to Lindridge and Wood,
on nearly into Teignmouth, through Venn and by
Holcombe to Luscombe Wood. Then down by the
Castle nearly into Dawlish and away for Mamhead.
But before reaching it, the end came, and the fox
was pulled down in the road near Mamhead school-
house after an hour and three-quarters. The brush
was given to Miss Whidborne, who, out that day for
the first time, was one of the half-dozen up at the
finish. In fact, but for the lack of blood. Major
Tucker's diary shews that the sport all through this
and the following season was, with the exception of
certain " impossible " days, consistently good, two
and three foxes being found on most days.
On Easter Monday, the 2nd April, 1866, there was
a burning scent and the pack raced a fox from
Borough Wood for forty-five minutes and killed him
in the fir plantation at the bottom of Hembury
without the semblance of a check. The season
closed with a kill, after a hunting run of nearly three
hours from the woods adjoining Compston.
Westlake's second season was prolific of much
good sport : a sixty minutes' very fast run from
Torbryan to Place, followed by slow hunting to
Owlacombe and losing in the fog ; a good hunting
run of fifty-nine minutes from Yarner to Buckland ;
a two-hours' run from Borough Wood by Goodstone,
Storms Down, Owlacombe, Bagtor, Heytor, Hound-
tor Rocks, and Honeybag Tor, ending with blood ;
an hour and five minutes to ground in the rough
country around Hennock ; an hour and fifty minutes
from the Sands, all over the Haldon country,
killing eventually by Ashcombe Church. These are
but samples of the sport recorded. Many foxes were
THOMAS WESTLAKE 107
run to ground, the earth-stopping being very in-
efficiently done. Major Tucker notes this in his diary,
and before the season was half over, namely, on the
20th December, his entry states that twenty-three
foxes had been earthed and that Mr. Westlake was
very annoyed in consequence. From another entry
in the same diary, stating that the hounds got mixed
in Awsewell with Mr. Cole's harriers which were
trying to rouse a stag, we learn that the presence of
an occasional red deer in the Buckland Woods is not
only of recent date.^
It is noticeable that in his second season Westlake
did not have a single blank day. This fact occasioned
much congratulation at the keepers' dinner held at
the end of the season. It is interesting to note the
names of those present at the dinner. Mr. Evan
Baillie, in the chair, and Messrs. J. Wills, Franklin
and Rendell vice-chairmen. Captain Keating, Messrs.
C. C. Wills (hon. sec), R. C. Tucker, W. R. Mortimer,
H. G. Beachey, J. Barratt, Thomas Pinsent, John
Drake, Wilham Webber, S. Bartlett, J. Blackaller,
W. Reed and Adams. The keepers from the following
properties attended : Stover, Ogwell, Bradley, Hac-
combe, Torbrian, Ugbrooke, Lindridge, Wood, Mam-
head, Luscombe, Powderham, Oxton, Bickham,
Haldon, Whiteway, Canonteign, Yarner, Barton Hall,
Netherton Manor and Gurrington Manor. The pro-
ceedings were most enthusiastic.
By the commencement of the season 1867-8 the
pack had been considerably improved, a regular whip
had been engaged, and the hunt had become estab-
1 This refers to stragglers from Exmoor, but the red deer once had a home
en Dartmoor. Mr. Crossing, in his One Hundred Years on Dartmoor, has some
interesting notes on the subject. In DanieVs Rural Sports, 1801-2, it is stated
that " stags are Hkewise foiind thinly scattered on the moors bordering on
Cornwall and Devon."
108 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
lished on a firm footing. Mr. Westlake's popularity
was evidenced by a complimentary dinner given in
his honour at the beginning of the season by the
members and subscribers of the hunt, over fifty of
whom were present. Nevertheless the master had
his troubles, no less than three blank days being
registered in the Haldon country before Christmas,
due to restrictions as to drawing. For this he got
some amends in January, on a day from Haldon
Belvidere, when he ran one fox to ground after a fast
forty minutes and killed another after an hour's run.
Among much good sport this season may be men-
tioned the following : November 9th, Canonteign.
Found in Snelling Copse and had a clipping forty
minutes to Botter and killed. November 26th,
Yarner. Found at once, ran to Pullabrook and
Lustleigh Cleave ; recrossed the river, and up over
the moor to the Rubble Heap, thence to Rippon Tor,
Bag Tor and Rora. A two-hours' run. Boaster and
Clamorous from Lord Poltimore's led most of the
way. December 4th, Heytree Gate. An old-fashioned
moorland run from Heathercombe Brake over Hamil-
don by King Tor and Shapeley Tor and over the
Moreton Road to Lakeland and Fern worthy. Thence
on over the moor towards Watern Tor, but, turning
at the North Teign, the fox passed close under
Sittaford Tor, leaving Stannon on his right, over
Merripit and to ground at the Stamping Mills at
Vitifer Mine. Thirty-two minutes only to this point.
The fox was quickly bolted and after another twenty
minutes was pulled down in the farmyard at Hatch-
well. The hounds were never cast throughout the run.
The South Devon took part this year in the Ivy-
bridge Hunt Week, meeting at Marley.
Before the season began, Mr. C. Wills, owing to ill
THOMAS WESTLAKE 109
health, retired from the post of Honorary Secretary,
and Mr. H. Michelmore was elected in his stead.
Westlake's great triumph was a run that he brought
off in April, 1871, perhaps the greatest run in the
annals of the hunt. That good judge, Mr. Charles
Trelawny, writing to a friend at that time, said :
*' I wish I could learn exactly how Westlake's really
wonderful run ended. Whether they killed or
earthed and where they finished." The following is
a condensed account of the printed report ;
MR. westlake's great RUN
The pack met at Heatree Gate with a dry, cold east wind
blowing. Westlake had eighteen couple of hounds out
and was riding Sprig. They found a brace in Heathercombe
Brake, and the dog-fox broke unseen, but a holloa from some-
one on the top of the hill soon brought up the master with the
pack, and he had to gallop hard to catch the leading couple,
the fox meanwhile having secured a start of eight minutes.
The pack settled down quickly, and ran over Hamilton leaving
King Tor and Grimspound to the right, to Challacombe and
Sousand Warren, turning right handed over Challacombe
Common and Vittiver Mine. The hounds then crossed the
Moreton road between New House and Bennett's Cross,
running at a tremendous pace ; over the Jurston valley to
Lakeland, thence by Fernworthy, and, leaving Grey Wethers
to their left, to Teignhead, and on to Whitehorse Hill. Here
riding became difficult, but a few of the field struggled on
over the boggy ground, with the pack half a mile ahead, going
over Ockment Hill to Dinger Tor and High Willhays, leaving
Yes Tor on the right. Near Yes Tor a fresh fox was seen to
get up, but the hounds stuck to the line of the hunted one
and ran on over Blackator, crossed the West Ockment river
and were last seen racing over the opposite hill as if either
Sourton or Lydford might be their point. But no horse
could follow over the bogs, and the master had now to give
in and start on his thirty mile ride home with one couple and
a half of hounds.
110 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
This run was considered good enough to quaHfy
for a place in the July number of Baily^s Magazine,
where the line given is substantially the same as
above as far as Blackator. After that point, it is
stated that the pack turned southward, raced along
the valley of the West Ockment, and is believed to
have killed on Amicombe Hill. In that case, the
writer estimated the run at twenty-four miles. The
distance, as hounds ran, from Heathercombe Brake
to Cranmere Pool, a mile or so beyond the spot on
Whitehorse Hill where the field began to get into
difficulties, he computed at fourteen miles, and he
gives the time to this point as one hour and twenty
minutes. There were, of course, no fences to hinder
hounds, which never once checked, and the pace was
severe. Those who went to the extreme limit were
Mr. Westlake, Mr. Hole, Mr. W. C. Clack, junior, of
Moretonhampstead, Mr. Barclay of Torquay, Mr.
Alec Monro of Ingsdon and two or three farmers,
one of whom, of the name of Norrington, had gone
particularly well. The writer adds that the hounds
did not return until the following day, and that the
fur in their teeth and other strong indications went
far to prove that they had been successful.
Mr. Westlake continued to give unqualified satis-
faction to the country until, at the end of the season
1874-5, failing health compelled him to retire. He
returned to Exbourne, his old home in North Devon,
where he died some years later. But before leaving
South Devon he was entertained at a dinner given at
Newton Abbot in October, 1875, by the members of
the hunt in his honour at which he was presented on
their behalf by Sir John Duntze with a massive and
handsome silver cup.
This cup is embossed on one side with a representa-
CUP PRESENTED TO MR. WESTLAKB
To face page 111
THOMAS WESTLAKE 111
tion of the " death of the fox," and on the other bears
the following inscription framed within the over-
arching boughs of an oak tree depicted on either side :
Presented to
Thomas Westlake Esquire
On his retiring from the Mastership of
The South Devon Fox Hounds
By Members of the Hunt
In testimony of their appreciation of
The sport he has shewn them
During Ten Seasons
September, 1875
This cup, with the presentation horn before referred
to, is now in the possession of his great-nephew, Mr.
Richard Westlake, the present owner and occupier
of Wood Hall.
The memorv of Tom Westlake is still cherished in
his old country, where the excellent sport he shewed
has never faded from the recollection of those who
shared in it, and it is said that to this day men still
search in the hope of finding the horn he lost at the
bottom of Becky Brook.
CHAPTER X
AUGUSTUS F. ROSS: FIRST MASTERSHIP, 1875-8
A troubled reign — Comes from the "VMieatland with Philip Back as whip —
A nocturnal " dust-up " — Keeps on Kingsteignton Kennels — His estab-
lisliment — A contrast — Opening day at Lindridge : a large field — A great
day's sport — The Field on Tom Harris the Haccombe keeper — Record of
sport — Mr. W. J. Watts at Yamer — Fm-ther sport: a fine run —
Wishes to resign — Hunt meetmgs — Sir L. Palk condemns Torquay's
lack of support — Adjourned meeting : fiirther discussion — Dissatis-
faction in the country — ilr. William Coryton prospective successor to
Ross — The master's offer rejected — Negotiations with Mr. Coryton fail —
Ross continues in office — Changes in hunt staff — Good sport : a hunting
run ; a day of bad luck — Resignation of Ross — Partition of South Devon
covmtry.
" Such a good-natured soul he would never complain
Of good sport in the day, and at dinner champagne."
(A Party at Stover.)
MR. WESTLAKE was succeeded by Mr. Augustus
F. Ross, who was undoubtedly a good sports-
man, but unfortunately there were circumstances
connected with his reign that prevented it from
being the success it might have been. As it was,
trouble arose during his second season.
Mr. Ross came from the Wheatland. He took
over that country from ]Mr. Winter-Wood in the
middle of the season 1874-5. He bought the hunt
horses and took over the huntsman, James Alexander,
and the whipper-in, Philip Back. When he came
to South Devon at the end of that season. Back came
with him, bringing his horses and about thirteen
couple of hounds to add to those in the kennels at
Kingsteignton. There was a " dust up " in the
112
AUGUSTITS F. R05;
To fact page 11'2
AUGUSTUS F. ROSS 113
middle of the night soon after, with the result that,
in Back's own words : "I packed up my tack in the
morning, got my money and started.''
Mr. Ross kept on the kennels at Oakford. Kings-
teicmton. His establisiiment in his first season is
described in a newspaper of the period as comprising
forty-two couple of hounds and eight hunters ; but,
from the Field table of himts, the pack appears to
have been drafted down to thirty -two couple and a
half before the season opened : quite as many, one
would imagine, as the Oakford kennels could accom-
modate.
I have heard Miss "\Miidborne speak of the contrast
between Westlake's simple though workmanlike turn-
out, and the tip-top style of Ross in his first season,
when he carried the horn himself and had three
whippers-in — Arthur Mason, Xat Smith and Harry
Freeman — master and men in leather breeches, all
verv smart and well mounted. In his second season,
the second and third wliips were replaced by WiUiam
Dra}i:on and Ben Bowers.
The cubhunting was very satisfactory^-, which is
not surprising, for Westlake's popularity had left the
country well stocked with foxes. Tlie pack met on
the opening day of the regular season, November 1st,
at Lindridge, and a field of a hundred and fifty was
present to greet the new master and criticize the new
regime. Colonel Templer was not then at Lindridge,
which was in the temporary occupation of Governor
Eyre, who proved an excellent proxj- for the Colonel
in the way of hospitahty, for those were the days
of substantial hunt breakfasts. The only record of
the day's sport is that they had a capital run of
an hour and a half, and pulled down their fox in a
field of mangold near *' Prestow,"' which may be
114 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
either Preston or, more likely, Mr. Mortimer's farm,
Hestow.
A great day's sport fell to the master's lot on the
11th of the same month. After meeting at Penn Inn,
a brace of foxes divided the pack in Wildwoods, the
main body with the master running one to Coombe
Cellars and back, through Buckland, over Milber
Down to the keeper's house, through the plantation
to the drain, which was stopped, and on to the
Newtake where he got in. The rest of the pack ran
the other fox to Penn Inn, and from there to another
part of the Newtake, where he was headed by foot-
people into the mouths of the hounds. The " VVho-
whoop ! " uttered in what the writer of the account
in the Field called " the somewhat delicate but, to
the ears of foxhunters with the South Devon,
melodious voice of Mr. Tom Harris who had this
little chase all to himself," brought up the master
with the body of the pack.
The said Tom Harris was keeper at Haccombe for
goodness knows how many years, for he was with
Sir Walter Carew and died only a few years ago. Up
to the last, after he retired, he used still to come out
hunting.
Going on to Torbrian they found again in South-
lands covert, and ran " over the grass fields and
diabolical stone walls," past the Rectory to Dyer's
Wood, across the Broadhempston road to the earths
at Penless which were shut. Then by Tor Newton
House over Denbury Down, round Denbury Village
and to Chandler's Wood, East Ogwell, Chercombe
Bridge and Whiterocks, down to and over the flooded
river, where Tom Harris, " disdaining the results to
his weak throat," distinguished himself by getting
across and so luring to their undoing the few others
AUGUSTUS F. ROSS 115
who were with him ; through Bradley Woods to
Little joy, under Hobbin, and, recrossing the river,
this time by a bridge, into the Ogwell coverts and
Deer Park to a limestone quarry, where one of the
hounds went over, the rest being stopped by the
first whip. Scent then failed, and the fox was lost
after a very fast hour and forty minutes.
Other doings of the pack were chronicled in the
Field from time to time, but this appears to have
been a bad scenting season on the whole, though
there were, of com'se, some good scenting days. The
very few enthusiasts who turned up at the Thorns on
the 20th December despite the drenching rain, were
rewarded with a racing thirty minutes, without a
check, from the top of Haldon to Powderham, where
the fox went to ground after disturbing a shooting-
party there. Another fast gallop of fifty-five minutes
without a check was the one from Well Covert on the
24th January, by Ideford through Luton Bottom to
Luscombe, Tower Plantation and Ashcombe schools,
entering Mamhead near the Rectory, and ending at
an open earth in Sir Lydston Newman's coverts.
Three days later the pack put in some good work in
the unpopular region of Manaton and Lustleigh
Cleave ; and the last day of January provided an
orthodox finish with a kill in the open near Mamhead
after a fast twenty-five minutes, preceded by much
skirmishing, with more than one fox, to and fro
between Well Covert, Ugbrooke and Chudleigh Rocks.
At Churston on the 3rd February a fox was run to
the Cliffs from Longwood and killed ; and on the
7th at Haldon Race-stand all the efforts of the
master to warm up his half-frozen field were frus-
trated through lack of scent in the bleak easterly
wind.
116 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
A good and hard day in Ross's second season, was
the 14th December when he met at Reddaford Water.
Mr. W. J. Watts at that time lived at Yarner, and,
though himself one of the keenest of shooting men,
he was always a good preserver of foxes. Of a leash
in Yarner Wood the pack fortunately settled to the
right one, which took a line outward to Heytor,
crossed the valley to Hound Tor Rocks and round by
Swallerton Gate and Hedge Barton into the Widdi-
combe valley, where he was lost. While they were
drawing up the steep side of Hamildon, the fog came
down just as the pack hit a line on the crest of the
hill, and only five horsemen were near enough to
keep hounds in view. After going to Headland
Warren and back nearly to Heathercombe brake,
and making another short ring on the top of Hamil-
don, the fox went straight to Buckland Woods and
found sanctuary in the big earth at the junction of
the East and West Webburn.
The pack met on the 18th December at Lindridge,
where high festival had just been held in celebration
of the coming of age of Colonel Templer's eldest son,
the present owner of Lindridge, Captain J. G. E.
Templer. A fox was found in Luton Bottom which
took a big ring by Ashwell, the Newtake and
Luscombe, then right-handed towards Teignmouth,
by the back of Bishopsteignton Village to the New-
take and Luton Bottom, and on to Well Covert,
Kingswood and Wood and then to Haldon, where he
was lost after a two-hours' run.
Only a short record exists of a run from Heytree
Gate on the 21st December which is stated to be
" one of the finest moorland runs ever known with
the South Devon." No time is mentioned, but the
distance is given as about twelve miles. The fox was
AUGUSTUS F. ROSS 117
found in Heathercombe Brake, and the points touched
were Hookner Tor, Challacombe, New House, Fern-
worthy and Broadamarsh, the fox getting into the
rocks some three miles above Post Bridge. Only the
master, a pink coat and a lady were there at the finish.
On the 17th January, 1877, Sir Lawrence Palk
presided over a " large and influential meeting " at
Newton Abbot to consider arrangements to con-
tinue the hunt after that season. Mr. Ross had
expressed his disinclination to continue unless the
guaranteed subscription of £500 per annum were
increased to £800. It was decided to appoint a
number of gentlemen to canvass their several districts.
Sir L. Palk, alluding to some observations made by
Mr. C. N. Luxmoore, of Torquay, said that town
ought to furnish at least a thousand a year towards
the hunt, a remark which produced much laughter.
The chairman intimated that if the residents of
Torquay would only show a more liberal spirit
towards the foxhounds, and provide the committee
with the means, more fixtures within an easy distance
might be arranged than had been the case up to that
time. A general feeling in favour of Mr. Ross
retaining the mastership was expressed, and testimony
was borne to his uniform courtesy in the field. It
was, however, suggested that if Mr. Ross would
provide a professional huntsman and only one good
whipper-in, more sport would be shown, and there
would be comparatively little difficulty in increasing
the annual subscriptions to £600 or £700 a year.
It was decided to adjourn the meeting to the 31st
of the month, and in the meantime Mr. Ross was to
be communicated with and given an opportunity of
conferring with Sir L. Palk, as chairman of the hunt.^
1 The Field, 20th January, 1877.
118 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
At the adjourned meeting, after the results of the
canvassing had been stated, the Honorary Secretary,
Mr. A. Moffatt, at the request of the chairman, Sir
Lawrence Palk, read the agreement between Mr.
Ross and the guarantors, drawn up in October, 1875,
when the guarantors agreed to find Mr. Ross £500
a year for three years to hunt the South Devon
country. A letter was also read, in which Mr.
Ross had asked Sir Lawrence Palk to intimate
to the guarantors that, as the expenses were so
much beyond the guarantee, he could not continue
to hunt the country after that season, unless the sum
was increased.
The chairman observed that either party by
giving notice might terminate the agreement. It
might be said Mr. Ross did not absolutely intend, by
his letter, to terminate the agreement ; but, on the
receipt of the letter, a meeting was called at Exeter,
and it was then resolved that the committee, so far
as their power enabled them so to do, should
terminate their agreement with Mr. Ross. It was
also considered advisable that a meeting of land-
owners and other parties interested in the hunt
should be called at Newton, which meeting had been
duly held. The result of the canvass was very un-
satisfactory, and subscriptions were falling off. The
chairman could not shut his eyes to the fact that
there was great dissatisfaction with the sport Mr.
Ross had shown. Many subscribers had told him
privately that unless Mr. Ross would employ a
huntsman they would not continue their subscrip-
tions. Mr. Ross had peremptorily and decidedly
refused to engage a huntsman. A suggestion was
made at the last meeting that the country should be
divided, and he almost thought it large enough. Mr.
AUGUSTUS F. ROSS 119
Pollard was afraid that if the country were divided,
his part of the neighbourhood would have no hunting
at all. The chairman did not know that such would
be the case. At the last meeting he ventured to
make a suggestion that the important neighbouring
town of Torquay should contribute £1000 a year
towards the foxhounds. (Laughter.) The sug-
gestion had received some local notice, and he had
heard that he had rather affronted Torquay by
putting the amount of subscription so low. (Renewed
laughter.)^
After further discussion, the names of Messrs. Ellis,
Michelmore, Wills, Codner and Tucker were added to
the committee, and the meeting was again adjourned.
In the meanwhile, the rumour got abroad that
there was a chance of Mr. William Coryton taking
the country, but at the adjourned meeting held on
the 21st February Sir John Duntze explained that
that gentleman declined to enter into any negotia-
tions whatever until the country was vacant. After
the position of matters between the hunt and Mr.
Ross had been re-stated and discussed, a resolution
was passed expressing the thanks of the hunt to ^Ir.
Ross, coupled with the regret that his offer could not
be accepted. The committee was then requested to
enter into negotiations with Mr. Coryton. Those
present at the meeting, in addition to the chairman.
Sir La^vrence Palk, included : Sir John Duntze, Dr.
Gaye, Messrs. D. R. Scratton, R. W. Pollard, Baillie,
senior and junior, Ellis, G. Remfry, J. Wills, Steele,
Rendell, Symons, Pinsent, Vicary and Mortimore.^
The negotiations with Mr. Coryton came to nought,
and at the beginning of the season 1877-8 we find
1 The Field, 3rd February, 1877.
=* Mid-Devon Advertiser, :i4th February, 1877.
120 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
Ross still at the head of affairs and still carrying the
horn himself, with thirty-five couple of hounds in
kennel. James "\^Tiite replaced the second whip,
W. Dra^-ton, who went to Lord Shannon, and the
third whip was dispensed with. The number of
huntins davs was increased bv the addition of every
alternate Saturday up to the middle of February,
from which time the pack hunted three days a week
until well into April.
Despite Sir Lawrence Palk's strictures, good sport
seems to have been enjoyed, as appears from the
following notes :
1877, November 26th. Powderham Arch. The
field spoiled what might have been a good run with
a Powderham fox. The master was more fortunate
with the one he found at Hay don, which took hounds
through Oxton to Mamhead and righthanded over
Haldon to Harcombe, putting in a mile on the road
as these Haldon foxes will do when bustled. He was
lost after being coursed by a sheep dog ; but before
the master had given him up, a fresh fox jumped up.
The pack raced him to ^^^liteway and back, through
Thorns and Court Plantation, and lost this one too
through scent failing suddenly in a cold storm. The
first run was over the hour, and the second fifty-five
minutes ^^ithout a check.
December 1st. Thorns. Found in Beggar's Bush
and ran over Chudleigh Hill through Court Planta-
tion, by Ideford to Well and Ugbrooke and through
the park to Chudleigh Rocks. Here a hound called
Dexter rolled the fox over twice, but he managed to
get into the rocks.
1878, Januar\^ 7th. A hard day on Haldon with a
fox from Oxton in the morning and one from Kings-
wood in the afternoon, but without handling either.
o
AUGUSTUS F. ROSS 121
January 10th. Penn Inii. A fir.i c: a h-.:iL±:^i
horsemen. Apparently a loiLg draw, for tbey found
at Cockington- Scent was very bad, but the
was patirait and jndkioos in his casts, the
being a slow hunting mn c^ tfaiee bonis, "****^^
the fox to ground in a creriee in a rock on &e sea
c3oast close to Torquay. A stranger from the IGd-
lands, out for the first time^ con^liiiiadsd the
master on the way the pack hunted and stock to
th^ fox through difi&culties.
January 12th. Beggar's Bush. Another vay
hard and xinlucky day. After hunting up to a fox
which had secured a sood start from ck)se to the
place of meeting, and running him hard to Castle
Dyke and Luscombe ; after rectifying a divisicKi <rf
the patk. and getting the whole c^ it back to the Kile
of the hunted fox. and brii^ing him back to Ash-
combe ; after having been misied th»e by a £dbe
hidoa ; and after recovering the line and inmm^
his fox to a standstill in OxtiMi, the master had the
mortincation of seeing his hounds dtange on to a
fresh fox at the last -mentioned place, whirfi l»ought
th^n back to near Ideford, whae they were stopped.
It was freezing hard all day.
January ITth. Reddaford Water. Could do
nothing with the Yamer fox ; but from Bagti^ had
a good hour and ten minutes to ground in Buddboid
Woods.
January 24th. Two IkOle Oak. A large field.
Killed in the open after a screaming twenty-five
minutes from Lee Brake without a check.
January- 26th. BeHaiuarsh. Killed a fox after
three-quarters of an hour's himting. and had a long
ringing run with another around Lindridge, Wood and
Ugbrooke, ending with darkness.
122 THE SOUTH DEVON HTXT
The month of February is generally productive of
good sport and was so this year.
February* 9th. Ware Barton. Kin erst ei ant on. A
large field. Found in Kingswood and ran by Lind-
ridge House. Humber Moor. Luton Moor. Castle
Dyke to the Ashcombe Valley, killing in Court Wood.
This was followed by a zigzag run from Watton
Brakes to groimd in Mamliead main earth.
February- 14th. Kingskerswell. The Down pro-
vided a gocd fox, which led the pack at a racing
pace to Abbotskerswell, Decoy, Wolborough, Bradley
Woods, Westwoods and Ogwell. Going on towards
Ipplepen, a left-handed turn took hounds to Dainton
and over the railway to Stoneycombe Quari^' : the
hounds were stopped with the exception of one which
fell over the quany- and was killed. Some workmen
viewed the fox on a led^ of the cliff, from which he
was dislodged, and after another fifteen minutes he
was rolled over in the open. Quite one of the old-
fashioned in-country* runs.
Februaiy- 18th. Haldon Race Stand. Hit a drag
in Oxton and found in Mamhead, but lost him on
Kenton Hill after a circular nm of foii^' minutes on
HaJdon.
February- 21st. Pteddaford Water. A short and
sharp run and a kill, by Colehays, Brimley and Old
Hayes Wood, and an hour and a half to ground with
another.
April 1st. Windy Cross instead of the moor, which
was under snow. Found at once, and away as if
for Bridford : then, turning at the swoUen river,
to Doddiscombsleigh, Ashton Brakes, Kiddons and
\Vhiteway ; on over Haldon to ground at the Round
O. Another fox gave a run by the Peace Stand,
Rushycombe, Harcombe, Haldon, Kenton Hill,
AUGUSTUS F. ROSS 123
Oxton, Mamhead and Ashcombe. and apparently
was earthed in Tower Plantation.
April 8th. Lindridge. A ^Hd day,, but a rare
scent and a capital run. A Lindridge fox broke
towards Whitelands and then ran by Kingswood
Quarry, Torr Hill Brake, Stoney Copse, Sands,
Gappagh, Ugbrooke Park towards Ideford, where a
slight check occurred. From there through Duns-
combe Plantation, Perrott's Farm, on to Haldon and
back as if for Ideford Brakes, but before reachincj
them the pack pulled hmi down in the open after a
very fast run of about fifty minutes.
From the above short notes it would appear that
this last season of Ross's first mastersliip was a ven.'
good one and far from bearing out the complaints of
bad sport which were heard the previous year.
At the end of the season 18TT-S Ross retired, and
the country was partitioned between Sir Lawrence
Palk and Sir John Duntze on the one hand, and,
eventually, Mi*. Fearnley Tanner on the other.
II
PARTITION
1. THE HALDON SIDE
2. THE NEWTON SIDE
1. THE HALDON SIDE
CHAPTER XI
SIR LAWRENXE F.\LK. BAET., AXD
SIR JOHN DUyrZE. BART : l5-?-?2
Hald
ktter
oOer
r-T C^I^sr:
ACCORDING to the arrangement made for par-
- tition of the country, a sej>arate pack was to
hunt all the country to the north of the River Teign,
from Teignmouth to Xewton Abbot, and east, oi
north-east, of the railway from the last-mentioned
town to Moretonhampstead. The terms of the par-
tition were that if either this newly formed country
or the country on the other side of the divisional line
indicated should become vacant at any time, it was
to be competent for the continuing master to claim
the countr\' so vacant.
Sir Lawrence Palk and Sir Jc^m Duntze undertook
jointly to hunt the newly established pack, which
128 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
was composed of purchases from the kennels of the
Hon. Mark Rolle and the Blackmore Vale. It was
kennelled at Sir Lawrence Palk's seat, Haldon House,
and called " The Haldon Hounds." The country
allotted to it is still spoken of as the " Haldon side."
Sir La^^Tence Palk was at that time Conservative
member for the East Devon Parliamentary Division
and had considerable territorial influence. He had
formerly kept harriers at Haldon, with which he
hunted a wide range of country. Though it does not
concern the South Devon Hunt, I am tempted to
reproduce the following interesting letter ^\Titten by
" Squire " Trelawny in December, 1864 :
" Last Saturday week we met at Goodamoor. . . . Palk
(Sir Lawrie) met with his harriers (of com'se by invitation
from Sir "Walter Carew) at Kingsbridge Road on the same
day, and spoiled, perhaps, the best run of twenty years,
besides killing a fox ! I must say both Baronets, especially
Carew, were heartily vexed. They could not well help
meeting on the Saturday, as Scale was much nearer to Marley
on the Friday. But to my run.
'• We found close to Lee Mill Bridge, on the Plymouth and
Ivybridge turnpike road, ran to Slade Viaduct, through
Storridge Wood, over the Yealm, up to and all over Hanger
Down, both Grange Wastes, all over the top of Stall Moor,
crossed the river ahocc Piles ; went two-thirds up the hill to
Three Barrows, and then, all of a sudden turned back,
recrossed the river and was finally earthed close to where he
was found. At the turning-point my terrier-lad and man on
second horse from Stall Moor saw some twenty horsemen
ahead of the hounds (of course Palk and his harriers).
■' Now I argue thus : any fox who had dared to scorn
Piles and had only just crossed the Erme, a bumper, and
which he shewed his dislike to by running up the side of the
river before he crossed, surely would, if not headed, have
gone at least to Woollholes and far more probably to Skerra-
ton or "White Wood and Langham Marsh, if the hounds had
SIR L. PALK, Bt., AXD SIR J. DUXTZE, Bt. 12#
not pulled him down before he got there, Xo"w, av Skerraton
is jxjssibly sixteen miles and White Wood, etc., ahout twenty
from where we found, I need not teU yoa that we were
probably baulked of a real clipper ! . . .
" P.S. — Walter Radclifie is in a d 1 <rf a way aboat the
harriers."
The letter reveals the good spirit and fine temper
of a sportsman in the highest sense and one who
knew how to bear disappointment.
It was Sir Lawrence Palk's father. Sir Lawrence
Vaughan Palk, who used to hunt from Dalby, near
Melton Mowbray, and is mentioned by Ximrod among
the " Crack riders of England." Sir Lawrence him-
self in his early days was an habitue of Melton far
seven years or more. He was also devoted to vault-
ing, and his LaneaMre WUck and Gvlnare waie wdL
known in the Squadron. He ^tas ako fond erf shoot-
mg and, in addition, he was a very good coaciinian
and a member of the Four-in-Hand Club.*
Sir Lawrence's second son, Mr. E. A. Palk,* acted
as field-master in his father's absence, which fraoi
ill-health was more or less continnous dining the
last two seasons of his mastership. Mr. Palk was
lather strict with his field, and some of us have
reason to be grateful for the discipliDe acquired in
those early days, which saved us from committing
many a solecism in later years. The yoothfol
delinquent who incurred the field-master's just but
quickly abating displeasore was often ecNOSoled by a
word of encouragonent from his sister, now the Han.
Mrs. Gambier-Pany, who hunted regularly with the
pack, and was extremely keen and a good nder.
Sir Lawrence Palk's coDeague, Sir JcAn Dontze,
130 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
was very popular with all classes here, as he was in
the Badminton country, where he had been in the
habit of hunting for many years. His hard-riding
days were over, but he took a keen interest in the
sport and was out regularly, though, as already
stated, the active duties of field-master really fell to
Mr. E. A. Palk. Sir John, who was married, but had
no children, lived at Exeleigh, a house he had built
at Starcross, close to the entrance to Powderham
Park. He was thus at the extreme end of his country
and a long way from the kennels. In the field, he
wore a low felt " topper " and a black, or very dark,
coat with the Beaufort button, and carried a whistle
instead of a horn. In those days a whistle had not
come to be a part of the regular equipment of a
hunt staff, and the hunt servants relied on their
voices. That reminds me of an incident that occurred
with the Haldon Hounds a year or two after Sir John
Duntze resigned. We were mystified by a shrill and
prolonged whistle that came from the depths of the
Luscombe Woods above Dawlish. It was found that
Mr. Henn-Gennys, a deaf-and-dumb gentleman then
hunting with the pack, had viewed the fox and was
taking the only means at his command of communi-
cating the fact to the huntsman.
Mr. Davies tells how Sir John Duntze, meeting
Jack Russell soon after the latter had been persuaded
to give up keeping hounds, said to him : " You can't
live without hounds, Russell — I know you can't.
Now I'll make you an offer ; I'll give you five pounds,
if you'll give me one, for every year that you don't
keep hounds." And Mr. Davies adds that Sir John
was right, for the following season saw Russell with
a fresh pack.^
1 Lije of the Rev. J. Etiasell, p. 252.
SIR L. PALK, Bt., AND SIR J. DUNTZE, Bt. 131
Mr. Frank Short was appointed honorary secretary
to the new pack. He was immensely popular, and,
living at his father's place, Bickham, was well placed
in the centre of the country. Mr. Short's father had
been a keen sportsman and a famous whip in the
palmy days of the Road. " Short's Plantation " is
mentioned frequently in Sir Walter Carew's diary
and was a noted find in his day, as was also the covert
known as the Round O, which also formed part of the
Bickham property. Thanks to Miss Short, Mr. Frank
Short's sister, who until quite recently continued to
live at Bickham, the reputation of these coverts has
been well maintained.
The first huntsman to the Haldon Hounds was
Will Nevard, who, however, died in Exeter Hospital
after only one season with the pack. He was suc-
ceeded by Dan North from Mr. Snow's in North
Devon. North had a musical voice and a shrill
scream, blew a good note on the horn and his hound
language was good and expressive. In these days, he
might have been considered as rather on the noisy
side ; but the silent system, whatever may be its
advantages elsewhere, is not highly thought of in the
woods and hills of Devon, and Dan North knew the
importance of getting a good body of hounds together
when his fox was first afoot. No feeble tootle on the
horn will do this in such coverts as Bridford Wood,
Cotleigh Wood, etc., where hounds spread them-
selves in drawing. Altogether he was a good hunts-
man, knew how to hunt a fox and shewed a great
deal of sport. Foxes soon increased in number,
though of course blank days were not unknown,
especially towards the end of the season.
I may perhaps be pardoned for mentioning the
first really big run I remember. Where we found, or
132 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
what the exact Hne was, I know not. All I do know
is that I followed Dan North and George Loram
when they turned away from the rest of the field,
that we crossed the ugly bottom of Kiddens in the
course of a long run and ultimately marked our fox
to ground in a drain beneath a road close to Ideford
village at dark, and that Mr. Palk and his sister were
about the only other members of the field that caught
the pack again before the finish.
The hunt was very strong in sporting farmers in
those days ; substantial men and first-rate sports-
men, who were always well mounted and knew all the
points in the game. There was George Loram from
near Exminster, mentioned just above, a fine specimen
of the British yeoman, whose weight was counter-
balanced by his good horsemanship and who had an
exceptional knowledge of hunting. He had a wonder-
ful voice, too, of which he made rather more use than
our field-master quite approved of. Then there were
White, of Ashcombe, on his bald-faced chestnut ;
Sam Archer of Doddiscombsleigh, whom none could
beat in that mountainous region ; Carroll Adams,
then farming under Sir Lydston Newman, now
prevented by rheumatism from doing more than go
out on wheels with the harriers ; Elliott of Crablake,
mounted on a well-bred one ; Paul of Lysons, a
yeoman farmer whose family have been settled in
that locality for centuries ; the two Annings ;
Jeremiah Strong of Pennycombe ; Mortimer of
Matford ; G. Short and H. Short of Dunsford ;
T. Pyle of Blackheath, G. Short of Cotley and John
Dymond of Humber.
Many others there were whose names escape me at
this distance of time, but I must not omit John Wills,
tenant of Mr. Comyns of Wood, whose riding weight
Sm L. TALK, Bt.. AND SER J. DUXTZE. B:. 133
was, I believe, over twenty stone. He it was who
made the artificial drain in the Xewtake, overlooking
Bishopsteignton, in the days of West lake, of whom he
was a staunch supporter.
A great sportsman was Hollett the Kennford
baker, and somewhat of a character to boot. Not
content to hunt only with the Haldon Hounds, he
would, on occasion, get up at two o'clock in the
morning so as to finish his day's baking in time to
start at eight o'clock on a three-hours' jog to meet
Mr. Ross at Xew Inn or elsewhere, riding the horse
that was to carry him all day. This man loved hounds
and their work. '' Sir," he said to me, as the pack
spread fan-wise to recover the line, " a beautiful lady
is a beautiful thing : but a pack of foihound-s is a deal
beautifuUer ! '' Of course the weather never daunted
him. Once he observed me shivering, and I admitted
that I felt the cold intensely. He did not tell me, as
Jorrocks told Benjamin under like circumstances, to
'• think of ginger '' ; but he laughed out softly :
" Ah ! 'tis you lean beggars." Now, this, to some,
mav sound familiar to the verge of rudeness, but I
would have them know that our Devonshire country
folk are never rude. Frank and outspoken they are,
yet with a frankness that is never unkind, and an
outspokenness that is free from any intentional
disrespect. This attenuation of figure must, I
suppose, have been particularly marked, and I
remember a farmer once telling me that mv father
was " a finer-looking gentleman nor you'll ever be,
I reckon." That again was only his way, as I well
knew, of expressing appreciation of my father's
physique : he meant no disrespect to me. Alas I no
one calls me lean to-day I
Old Hollett 's son and grandchildren have inherited
134 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
his passion for hunting. The former on wheels (since
his health forbade him the saddle) and the latter
mounted rarely miss joining hounds when on Haldon.
There were many resident hunting people in the
country. Besides the masters and the honorary
secretary, there were, Mr. Ley of Trehill ; Mr.
O. Bradshaw, then living at Canonteign ; the late
Lady Exmouth ; Mr. and Mrs. C. Chichester of Kenn ;
and Captain A. Chichester of Alpington, always well
mounted ; Mr. Studd of Oxton ; Mrs. Byrom of
Culver ; Mr. Eales of Eastdon ; Mr. H. F. Carr and
Mr. Rew of Exeter ; Mr. Heacock of Countess Weir,
whose cattle were of an excellent type ; Mr. and Miss
Whidborne ; Major McLeod, a fine horseman ; Major
Keating, a very hard one ; Mr. E. C. Haggerston and
Mr. Godfrey Lee, all of Teignmouth. The last-named,
now in his ninety-second year, still takes his ride on
Haldon, though he considers he is past hunting. He
used to go remarkably well when in middle life, and
his wonderful grey mare, Bluebell, lasted him many
years. There were also Mr. Evan Baillie of Filleigh,
his son, Mr. Alec Baillie, Mr. Lord of Kerswell Rock,
whose kennel of dwarf beagles became so well known
in later years ; Captain G. Ellicombe and his brother,
Mr. H. Ellicombe of Chudleigh ; Mrs. Trood of
Matford, Dr. Baker of Dawlish, and Dr. and Miss
Pycroft and Mr. R. Hooper of Starcross, Mr. Hole of
Bovey and Captain J. G. E. Templer when home on
leave. The Church was represented by the Rev.
G. Bird of Christow, who set an excellent example
to the rest of the field, for he went, indeed, " as
straight as a bird." He was a very short-legged man
and rode a very tall horse with a bad stringhalt in
both hind legs. If a bank was not to be jumped in
the ordinary way, Mr. Bird would send his horse over
SIR L. PALK, Bt., AND SIR J. DUNTZE, Bt. 135
it alone and catch hold of the animal's tail to hoist
himself on to the bank after it. He always wore a
hunting-cap in the field and was a thorough workman.
Then there was Mr. George Finch of Exeter, a good
sportsman and one always ready to help in " raising
the wind." The officers of the R.H.A. at Topsham
Barracks generally provided a contingent.
It is sad to think how^ few of these are left to talk
over the capital sport enjoyed under the dual master-
ship. Though several are still ahve and well, not one
is to be found among a modern field on Haldon.
CHAPTER XII
MR. EDWARD FAIRFAX STUDD : FIRST MASTERSHIP,
1882-84
Mr. Studd and Mr. Whidbome succeed to the Haldon side — Kennels at Oxton
— Claim the country vacated by Ross — Claim waived in favour of Mr.
Hemming — Temporary re-union on his failing — Both sides of country
hunted as " South Devon " — A brief partnership — A staghunt and its
sequel — A friendly settlement — A change of plans : the country again
partitioned — Some reflections on the conventions of hunting — Was Mr.
Studd's action a breach ? — Obligations of an M.F.H. — Wolf-hunting by
the Duke of Beaufort — Orthodoxy of bigotry ? — A successful season —
A popular secretary — A contrast with present-day conditions — Sir J.
Duntze presents the pack to Mr. Studd — Changes in the pack and notes
on individual hounds — A fine run — A curious finish — Comments — Mr.
Studd's aversion from bagmen — A silver fox ? — Good sport in his second
season — Another staghunt : Mr. Tremlett's Harriers — Sam Gilmore.
" The thrilHng tones still vibrate on my ear,
WTien every hill in tuneful chorus rung
And every dell your deepest wilds among,
Filled with the chaunting of my gallant cry,
In tenfold echoes paid their melody."
{On looking back from Haldon for the last time on Stover.
By Geo. Templer.)
WHEN Sir Lawrence Palk and Sir John Duntze
gave up the Haldon pack in the spring of
1882, a meeting was held at Exeter to decide upon
future arrangements. At that meeting Mr. Whid-
borne of Teignmouth and Mr. Studd of Oxton were
elected joint-masters. Sir John Duntze lent them
his pack of seventeen and a half couple, with a
promise to convert the loan into a gift after one
season, and gave a donation of £100. Kennels
were fitted up in the farm buildings half a mile
from Oxton, under the Hang of Oxton, the pack
136
MR. E. FAIRFAX STUDD
By permission of the Countij Gentleman
To face page 13V
MR. EDWARD FAIRFAX STUDD 137
was strengthened by purchases from Mr. Ross, Mr.
Froude Bellew and from other sources, and Dan
North was kept on as huntsman.
Concurrently with these arrangements came the
resignation of Mr. Ross who, as will be seen later, ^
had been enjoying a second spell of office as master
of the South Devon, then hunting the Newton side
or southern portion of the country. Thereupon the
new joint-masters of the Haldon claimed the portion
vacated by Mr. Ross, as they were entitled to do
under the terms of the arrangement entered into
when the country was first partitioned, ^ and at the
same time they of course resumed the name " South
Devon " for the pack with which they were to hunt
the re-united country. The re-union, however, was
only momentary. The claim to the Newton side
appears to have been waived in favour of a gentle-
man, Mr. Hemming, who undertook to hunt that side
with a separate pack ; it re-attached shortly after
when he failed to make good his undertaking, and
during the cubhunting the country was hunted as
one by Mr. Whidborne and Mr. Studd jointly. Then,
on the opening day, November 2nd, an incident
happened that brought their partnership to a sudden
and dramatic end.
The pack met, according to custom, at Haldon
Race Stand, but did not find until reaching Oxton.
There, in tlie Hang of Oxton, a wild red deer was
roused, a stag of about four years. The presence of
this visitor from Exmoor was totally unsuspected,
for though red deer did in those days, as they do now,
sometimes penetrate as far south as Moreton Woods
and Buckland Woods, they had never been heard of
on Haldon. The incident brought out at once the
1 See Chapter XV. « See p. 127.
138 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
difference in temperament of the joint-masters. Mr.
Whidborne, old and orthodox, gasped at the idea of
running a deer ; Mr. Studd, young and bursting with
keenness, gave the order to " let them go ! " In
that, he might be thought to be but making a virtue
of necessity, for getting to the heads of hounds on that
steep hillside where the bracken grows to a height of
over six feet, was an impossibility. But he frankly
declared afterwards that any fellow with young blood
in his veins would have done as he did. Dan North
needed no confirmation of the order. He came from
North Devon, and with him the chase of the wild red
deer was a natural instinct.
The stag crossed into Mamhead and set his head to
the south, running dead up-wind as far as Luscombe.
There he turned, retraced his steps to Mamhead, went
on through Rushycombe and across the racecourse
to the top of Kiddens, down the valley to Doddis-
combsleigh, on to Dunchideock Brake and into
Perridge, over the Exeter road below Longdown and
right on as far as the Okehampton road, where the
hounds were whipped off from the stag dead-beat in
an orchard about a mile and a half from Exeter. Time,
five and a half hours. I regret to say that the
severity of the run caused the death of three horses.
Being unable to ride myself from an accident, I was
out on wheels and only saw the start. My elder
brother, who was mounted, got home at ten o'clock
that night.
Without a doubt, it was a great run ; but it was at
once condemned as a most irregular proceeding.
Trouble quickly followed. Sir John Duntze wrote
that he had lent his hounds to hunt fox and not
stag, and that until he had an assurance that such
a thing should not happen again they were not to
MR. EDWARD FAIRFAX STUDD 139
leave the kennel ; and Mr. ^Mlidbo^ne's outraged
feelings induced him to announce that he could not
continue in partnership with anyone capable of such
a lapse from the path of sporting rectitude.
Ultimately, through the good offices of Lord Haldon
and Mr. Studd's ready acceptance of the judgment
passed upon him (unaccompanied, it is to be feared,
by either inward sense or outward sign of contrition),
the matter was smoothed over, and a settlement was
arrived at under which Mr. Studd was to continue to
hunt the Haldon side alone, Mr. "\Miidborne under-
taking to hunt the Newton side -svith a separate pack.
Each pack to hunt two days a week, Mr. Wiidborne
on Tuesdays and Saturdays, and Mr. Studd on
Mondays and Thursdays.
Here I should like to pause for a moment, and to
ask the question : " Was Mr. Studd's action in
miming a stag so unquestionably a breach of any
rule, usage, or custom governing the sport of fox-
hunting, as it was at the time universally considered
to be ? " In the first place, it is not a question of
hunting law. Hunting law, properly so called, only
arises where the rights or interests of more than one
pack are concerned. Neither, it seems to me, does
usage or custom come in, for such, to be of any
authority, must be general in application or accept-
ance, and we know that the wild red deer exist only
in two special localities, namely, in and around the
forest of Exmoor and in the New Forest. Without
a doubt, a man is entitled to keep a pack to hunt
either fox, hare or fallow deer : equally without a
doubt, a master of a recognized pack of foxhounds
would break an accepted rule of foxhunting who
allowed his hounds to hunt what to them is ordinary
riot, such as hare or fallow deer. But does the rule
140 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
extend to prevent him from hunting a wild animal
differing entirely from the ordinary riot to be found
in the ordinary hunting country ? A wolf for
instance ? You would be as likely to find a wolf as
a wild red deer in almost any hunting country in
England. Yet I seem to have read of a pack of fox-
hounds drawing, without protest, for a wolf escaped
from a menagerie. Be that as it may, it is a fact that
in 1863 the late Duke of Beaufort took five and
twenty couple of his magnificent pack to France, to
Poitou, to hunt the wolves there. Will anyone say he
committed a breach of any hunting ordinance in so
doing ? The difference between his case and that of
Mr. Studd is that in the former the master sought out
the wild animal, and in the latter the wild animal
sought out the master. The answer to those who
would argue that the red deer is akin to the fallow
deer, is that the two are very dissimilar in scent and
hunting attributes. The one is wild and very rare ;
the other, mostly, tame and common. Another
distinction, though it has lost its significance nowa-
days, is that, ever since the days of Canutus the Dane,
hart (which is expressly stated to include stag and
" all other red deer of anther ") and hind have been
beasts of venery, or beasts of the forest ; buck and
doe, beasts of chase merely.^ I yield to none in
orthodoxy, whether in religion or sport ; yet orthodoxy
must not be confounded with bigotry. Without
/ expressing any opinion as to whether Mr. Studd's
/ action was justified or not, I hope I have said enough
to shew that there are grounds for doubting whether
he really was guilty of a breach of any rule of the
sport.
Mr. Studd was very successful in his first season,
^ Manwood'a Forest Laws.
MR. EDW.lRD FALRP.IX STIT)D 141
and shewed most excellent sport. Many things
conduced to this result. The noaster threw himself
into his task with all his wonted energy and gave a
great deal of |>ersonal attention to the affairs of the
hunt. He was very popular and had the advantage
of an equally pcpular honorary secretary in the
person of Mr. F. Short, who continued in that post.
The season was a very good scenting one, and
incidentally a ver\" wet one ; and the country was
thoroughly weU stocked with foxes, only two blank
days, and those ver\- wild ones, being recorded.
Xotwithstanding this, the number of kills amounted
only to ten-and-a-half brace, a fact which will be
imderstood by those who know what a hoUow
country the Haldon is. It is almost safe to say there
is either an artificial drain or a natural earth in every
covert of consequence, and Mr. Studd was not of a
temperament to care for the tedious operation of
digging, or his total of kills for this season might have
been far higher.
In those days, the country was very open. There
was hardly a strand of wire of any sort on Haldon
except the old boundary fence at Lidwell, which was
well gated ; a great contrast to the present day,
when miles of barbed wire exist without fulfilling any
useful function. Pheasant -rearing, too, was on a very
much smaller scale then, and very few shootings
were let.
After such a satisfactory season it was only natural
that the hunt should have asked Mr. Studd to
continue for a second year, and no difficulty was
experienced in raising the stipulated subscription of
£400. Sir John Duntze then formally presented his
pack to Mr. Studd.
The second season was as successful as the first.
142 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
and comprised a great number of excellent runs.
Eleven brace of foxes were killed, and twelve-and-a-
half brace run to ground. Out of the fifty-seven
hunting days in the season proper, four only were
blank, and on the others sixty-three foxes were
hunted.
These two seasons of Mr. Studd's first mastership
shew what can be done with a small establishment.
The pack at the end of the first cubhunting season
numbered twenty-eight couple and a half, but the
withdrawal by Mr. Whidborne of the eight couple
belonging to him on the severance of the partnership,
left Mr. Studd with only twenty-and-a-half couple
with which to start the season, and this in a country
where the flints and dwarf gorse are notoriously
trying to the feet of hounds, and at a time of year
when drafts were not easily obtainable. True, the
distances to covert were not as great as those with
which Mr. Whidborne had to contend beyond the
Teign ; but for all that, the days were mostly long
ones, since the master would never stop drawing as
long as there was any chance of a run. What hounds
there were, however, were good, and representative
of some of the best kennels, and they had the advan-
tage of condition and of knowing each other, the
latter point being one that is sometimes overlooked
in kennels where breeding is carried on to an extent
greater than is warranted by the number of hunting
days. Allowing for casualties and the usual cases of
temporary absence or disablement, it was very
creditable to the huntsman that he was generally
able to put in the field from fifteen to seventeen
couple. On occasion, towards the end of the season,
his pack would be much smaller, as on the 21st March
when twelve couple only raced into a Culver fox in
MR. EDWARD FAIRFAX STUDD 143
forty-five minutes, notwithstanding the vast wood-
land of Cotleigh came in the hne of chase.
In the second season, the gaps in the ranks were
made good by a draft from Mr. Froude Bellew. Even
then the master was very httle stronger in hounds,
being able to put forward only one home-bred couple
out of nine couple put out to walk, several of the
litters being very late ones. This year the pack
numbered in all twenty-two couple.
Among the hounds that came from Sir John Duntze
was a remarkably good bitch, then at the completion
of her fifth season, called Sally, bred by Lord
Coventry, being by his Singer out of his Dowager.
With her came two of her puppies, Susan and
Sorceress, first-season bitches, by the Haldon Sports-
man. All three were so much alike in appearance that
it was difficult to tell one from the others, and the
puppies turned out as good and as lasting as the
mother. Sorceress was particularly good in her work
and I can remember her carrying the line down a dry
flinty Haldon road when no other hound could own
it. She lasted into her eighth season and was the
only hound of that age in the list for 1889. Her
sister, Susan, distinguished herself by having a litter
of seventeen by the Warwickshire Archibald, eight
of which came into the ring at puppy- judging time.
This was in the mastership of Lord Haldon in 1884,
Susan being in whelp when he took over the pack.
One of these eight, Armorer, took first prize for dogs,
and two others, Archeress and Ardent, first and
second for bitches, the second prize for dogs going to
Solomon, a son of Sorceress and Rutland, the latter a
Haldon dog from the Warwickshire.
Of Susan's eight puppies, five, namely, Archibald,
Archeress, Armorer, Ardent and Artemis, were put
144 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
forward. They all remained in the pack for five
seasons, and the three last went through a sixth
season. If I remember rightly, all except Ardent
were badger-pies, and all turned out excellent
hunters.
Another capital home-bred dog was the red-pied
Samson, by the Haldon Saracen, who had completed
his second season when he came to Oxton. That his
blood was thought well of is shewn by the hound list
for 1892 (after Dr. Gaye had come into office) which
comprises, besides his direct offspring (then in their
seventh season), namely. Saraband, Plausible and
Platoff, six-and-a-half couple of hounds got by the
last-named dog.
On the other hand, the fashionably bred Wagtail,
Watchful and Welcome, by the Belvoir Weathergage
out of Lord Macclesfield's Rosemary, had all to be
put away after the first year, their second season,
which affords an illustration of the uncertainty of
hound-breeding.
Bandsman, by the Heythrop Bugler, a good
worker and comely, was an example of how a hound
sometimes belies his name, for^ despite his musical
name and ancestry, he was quite mute and had to go.
Of the sport itself in Mr. Studd's first mastership
the follo^\ang notes will give some idea :
In his first season : December 23rd, a five hours'
hunt, with repeated changes, on Haldon and around
Oxton and Mamhead, whipping off finally in the
dark at five o'clock. This was typical of many a day
which provided several hours' sport without any
great point being made.
On the 8th January, one of a brace in Haldon
Belvidere gave the pack an hour's run. Another fox
from Lakecombe took the hounds to Doddiscombs-
MR. EDWAED FAIRF.IX STUDD 145
leigh, down past Ehmchideock to Ide, back by Lower
Brenton to Haldon Byes, through that covert to
Cotleiffh and down to Culver, on to Holcombe
Bumell Wood and 3Ir. Snow's covert behind Lamb
Lin, then crossed the Exeter road mto Pemdge, and
was killed in the open below Dunchideock at the end
of two hours and a half without hounds being cast.
A curious ending was that to a run from Oxton on
the 15th January.'. After some work in cover with a
leash of foxes, one of them set his mask for Powder-
ham by way of Helwell and Ringsdon, and after
crossing the park to Powderham Belvidere, he went
down to the marshes, crossed the Great Western
Railway and was drowned in the estuary of the Exe.
His carcase was picked up after the tide went down,
and brought to Oxton that evening. The pack had
a narrow escape in crossing the railway as a train
passed down between the fox and the hounds. The
unusual finish gave rise to talk about a drag, a bag-
man from over the Exe, etc., but the plain truth was
that, once on the open marshes, the fox never had a
chance to turn. As for a drag or a bagman. I can
testify that 'Sh. Studd, whom I have had the pleasure
of knowing intimately for over thirty years, had a
horror of such practices, which belong to a different
category.' altogether from that of the staghunt inci-
dent.
A frequent place of meeting was the sixth mifestone
on the Exeter and Okehampton road for the purpose
of drawing Mr. H. Drew's and >L:. Snow's coverts,
and the country to the north of them. From that
fixture on the 18th January the pack killed a fox in
Cotleigh Wood after an hour and a half* s ringing run.
It makes one en^^ous in these days to read of a
brace of foxes being found at the Thorns and of the
116 THE SOLTH DEVON HI'XT
terrier bc'ltiui: three more on the same day from the
drain in Well C ^"~" -^ i'e hounds were running yet
another. This :. :he 22nd January, 1887.
On the next . :ay, 25th, Lindridge was the
base of operations. Finding in Whit elands, the hne
lay tiuoagh WocxL Kings wockL Well Covert. Sands,
Bdlamarsh and Chudleigh Rock- back by Ugbrooke
Pazk to Ideford, Humber Moor and Xewtake. Here
the pack divided, one lot going to Kings wood and
Wood, where they were stopped from another fresh
fox : the otifeer lot meanwhile g'oing to Lidwell and
neari^ into Teignmooth, returning by Bishopsteignton
to Wood-
The number of foxes, and the absence of a proper
whip, resulted in hounds often dividing. Sometimes
both lots killed their fox, and once they both ran
to ground in the same earth after taking different
lines.
Rou^ weather is not always hurtful to scent. On
the 12th February, a day of cold and heavy rain-
storms with a gale of wind, a fox. bolted from Lidwell
drain, took the pack at a terrific pace to Oxton and
back to 3£anihead. where the pack turned down into
Oxton again, killiTig him in the laurels by the big
pond there. An old dog fox-
On the 19th of the same month, another old fox was
killed at Dunchideock after two hours and ten
minutes without hounds being once cast. The pack
had met at Windy Cross and found in Willis's Gorse,
the ran taking place in the hilly country touching
Doddiscosnbslei^i, Cotleigh, Longdown, Pemdge,
Culver, Hcdcombe BumeD, fifth milestone Okehamp-
toa road, ^£r. Snow's coverts, Perridge again and
Dunfhideock.
The staying powers of the pack were well tested a
MR. EDWARD FAIRFAX STTDD 147
week later, on the 26th February, when a two-hours'
hunt from Canonteign in the morning was followed
in the late afternoon by a run of an hour and forty
minutes in the ^Vhiteway, Haldon, Doddiscombsleigh
and Ashton country, ending with blood. This fox was
found at four o'clock.
Mr. Studd's diar\' contains the interesting note
that on the last day of this season a white fox was
said to have stolen away from Long Covert, Bella-
marsh, which, as also the Sands, hounds had drawn
blank. How far the report is true is doubtful when
it is considered how often the Ugbrooke coverts were
visited by hounds in those days without ever finding
such a fox.i
After a very successful time during cubhunting,
Mr. Studd's second season opened with a good but
twisting hunting run to ground ; and the second
week in November furnished a good hour and a
quarter with a fox found at Beggar's Bush which
took refuge under a bam at \Aliiteway. whence he
could not be dislodged.
Other good runs this season included an hour and
thirtv-five minutes from Sands, killing close to
Mamhead House ; a ver\* smart gallop from War-
borough to Mamhead, and thence with a fresh fox
round Oxton and Mamhead and on to Lidwell : a
four-and-a-haK hours* hunt from Woodlands to
Eastdon with a bad scent in a north-east wind ; and
a ver\- hard day from Windy Cross. A very unusual
line, at least in modem days, was that taken on
Christmas eve by a Luscombe fox which ran to
the cliffs at Hole Head and apparently got in.
Time, thirty-five minutes ; ver\- fast. Returning to
^ A man I have no reasoa to disbe&eve. told me in tiie "— ■"«■ ai 1914
that he frequently saw a silver fox in Tav Mai^ on Dartmoor.
148 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
Luscombe, it took the pack over an hour to force
another fox to face the open, from which he soon
returned, and nearly two hours to kill him. This was
a most creditable performance, for Luscombe and
its twin wood Summercombe are, for some reason,
perhaps the worst scenting coverts in the country,
and the ground, of course, became foiled in addition.
Owing to the field being thrown out, ^Mr. Studd
was the only one to see a good run on the 7th January
with an afternoon fox from Black Forest. The line
was a crooked one, through Oxton by Kenwood to
Mamhead Rectory, across the Park to Oxton again,
over Paul's Farm and once more to Oxton and
throucrh all the woods there, and finallv bv Havdon
Common, Cole Park and Babel's Bridge into Powder-
ham, where the master stopped the hounds in the
dark.
On the 22nd January the pack had a very fast
burst of forty-five minutes ^\ithout a check, killing
their fox in the open by the lower Lodge at Ugbrooke
after finding at Humber Moor and running to the
Thorns and round by Bellamarsh.
A Bridford Wood fox gave a good run on the 3rd
April, making away to Blackingstone Rock and by
Dockham to Marden Do^vn, back through Dunsford
Wood, over Pixie Rocks and away towards Lustleigh
over the moor, but turned and ran back to ground at
Pixie Rocks. Time, one hour and a half.
It would be wearisome to extend the list. A
season is to be judged not by two or three good runs,
but by the average of sport throughout its continu-
ance. The days referred to above were, mostly, no
better and no worse than a great number of others,
for the sport all through these two seasons was up to
a very high standard. Mr. Studd used to say that
MR. EDWARD FAIRFAX STLT)D 149
scent was frequently at its best in the evening ;
certain it is that a great proportion of his best runs,
often ending witii blood, took place in the late after-
noon — eloquent testimony not only to his o^^ti
keenness, but also to the stoutness and condition of
his hounds. It is not every pack that will run and
kill a late afternoon fox in such a country as the
Haldon.
It is interesting to record that in November, 18 S3,
just a year after the incident of the red deer, another
staghunt took place in the country, but this time
"v\'ith harriers. 3Ir. Tremlett's harriers had found a
wanderer from Exnaoor at Xewton St. C\Tes, and,
after a good run, he had been taken near Ashcombe
and lodged in farmer White's barn at Ashcombe
Barton. After a week's rest and good feeding, the
stag was taken in a cart to Lamb Inn, Longdown,
where, although the fixture was not advertised, an
enormous field assembled. Mr. Tremlett's pack was
strengthened for the occasion by several couple from
jNIt. Townsend's harriers, and among them was one
shagg\' black-and-tan fellow whose appearance
savoured of the Pruicipality.
The stag had seven points and an offer, but I do
not remember their disposition. He was enlarged in a
field on the north side of the road and went away at
first towards \Miitestone as if to return whence he
came. He soon turned, however, and took a line
through Perridge and Cotleigh to Haldon Behidere,
over the plain of Haldon. and by Harcombe to
Ugbrooke. Here he took soil and swam about in the
ornamental water for some time, while the hounds,
which had tailed terribly, enjoyed much independent
diversion among the fallow deer in the park. Fortu-
nately the himtsman, Sam Gilmore, who was some-
150 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
what of a character, but had an excellent reputation
as huntsman, came up at this juncture. He had
been thrown out, almost from the start, through not
knowing an inch of the country. He soon set matters
right and the stag going again, and the chase pro-
ceeded to Kingsteignton, where the stag was taken
(but not killed) in a brook in the orchard behind
Mr. Whidborne's stables. Mr. " Jemmy " Deacon,
in trying to collar the deer, was thrown down, and
was lucky to escape with a damaged shoulder. Mr.
Studd and Dan North were amongst those who rode
the run.
The members of the field in this mastership were
much the same as in the previous one. The circum-
stances of Mr. Studd's resignation appear in the next
chapter.
15
O
Q
<
W
P
o
CHAPTER XIII
LORD HALDON: 1884-86
Mr. Studd stands aside — A change for the worse — Gift of the pack by Mr.
Studd — Corditions attached to the gift — The pack strengthened by
drafts fror Belvoir, etc. — Kennels at Haldon House — " Lord Haldon's
Hounds " — Dan North deposed — Good prospects of sport not fulfilled —
Story of a pinafore — Field-masters : Mr. J. H. Ley ; Mr. O. Bradshaw
— The Babbacombe murderer — The High Sheriff fails to hang Ms man —
Financial troubles — Lord Haldon resigns — Mr. Studd to the rescue — Lord
Haldon and Mr. Studd : a correspondence and its results.
" For the htuitsman to take them, too proud or too slack,
Sent his horse with his hounds, and rode there on his hack."
{The Chumleigh Club. By Geo. Templer.)
WHEN it became known, on the death of the
first Lord Haldon in 1883, that his successor
was disposed to take on the pack hunting the Haldon
country, Mr. Studd readily resigned in his favour.
The change was not to the advantage of sport in the
district ; for, although the new master was fond
enough of hounds and hunting, he, not unnaturally,
had the laudable ambition to hunt the pack himself,
to which course, as he took no subscription, no one
could object. Unfortunately it is not given to every-
one to have the necessary qualifications for a hunts-
man, a truth which all admit, while everyone makes
a mental reservation in his own favour. The result
in this case was disastrous as far as sport was con-
cerned.
Mr. Studd presented his pack to Lord Haldon, only
attaching to the gift a condition that the latter would,
151
152 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
on retirement, in his turn make over to any gentleman
selected as his successor and not having a pack of his
own, a pack equal in quality and number. Lord
Haldon added to the pack drafts from Belvoir and
elsewhere, and the kennels were once more at Haldon
House, The pack went by the name of " Lord
Haldon's Hounds." Dan North was retained as
kennel-huntsman, but deposed in the field to the
position of first whip. This of itself would have
handicapped a better huntsman than Lord Haldon,
for the great majority of the hounds had for several
seasons owed allegiance to North as their huntsman,
and naturally would not accept the new regime, and,
as he said himself, it went to. his heart to drive them
away from him. All the other conditions were
favourable. The master and men were splendidly
mounted, the landowners well disposed, as were also
the farmers, and foxes were plentiful. Nevertheless,
sport on the whole was bad, although, as the strange-
ness of the new conditions wore off, there was an
improvement, and sometimes we had a very pleasant
day's sport.
In those days our provincials were apt to view with
suspicion any approach to " dandyism," and there
was a certain smartness about the turn-out that was,
quite \vrongly no doubt, associated in their minds with
the falling off of the standard of the sport provided.
I shall never forget the expression on the face of old
William Paul, Mr. \Miidborne's stud groom, on the
first occasion that he saw the master get out of his
break to mount his hunter. He had taken the very
proper precaution of putting on an apron to protect
his leather breeches. " Good lord ! " exclaimed the
old man, " I never saw a man come out hunting in a
pinafore before ! " There was some excuse for him,
I
LORD HALDON 153
for leathers are not very popular wear in this wet
country, and before the days of steam-rollers few people
went to cover on wheels because of the bad roads,
and so, even with leathers, had no need of an apron.
Mr. J. H. Ley of Trehill, whose family has been
associated with the sport in the Haldon country
since the days of John King, or Mr. O. Bradshaw
usually acted as field-master in Lord Haldon's
absence, on which occasions North handled the pack.
It happened that on the day that John Lee, the
Babbacombe murderer, failed of getting hanged in
Exeter gaol after three attempts, Mr. Bradshaw, the
High Sheriff at the time, was engaged in trying to kill
his fox instead of hanging his man, and it was
commonly reported at the time that his commendable
choice of occupation involved him in a fine of five
hundred pounds for the failure to carry out the
sentence of the Court. I believe this report was
wholly untrue, the supervision of an execution being
always the privilege of the under-sheriff.
Lord Haldon had not only overrated his abilities
as a huntsman ; he had also overestimated his
financial position, and at the end of a couple of years
he found himself in monetary difficulties and com-
pelled to give up the hounds. In this he was more
to be sympathized with than blamed ; there are
always those who are ready to take undue advantage
of a man's good nature, and in his case it is to be
feared that he was the victim of dishonesty as well.
The trouble came at an unpropitious moment, for
it was not until September, 1886, that he definitely
resigned the mastership. After one or two fruitless
meetings in Exeter, Mr. Studd generously offered to
take on the country again, and his offer was accepted
at a meeting held on the 24th September, 1886.
154 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
Lord Haldon then wrote to Mr. Studd expressing
his readiness to return twenty-one-and-a-half couple
of hounds in accordance with the condition referred
to earher in this chapter, and asked whether Mr.
Studd would care to take at a valuation the further
seven couple that had been added to the pack. He
added : "As soon as this is settled . . . you are
welcome to take the hounds ; and, indeed, even
pending this, I see no reason whatever why the
hounds should not go out, so long as you provide
the cattle." Mr. Studd did not want more than
twenty-one couple and a half, but reminded Lord
Haldon that he was entitled to that number of sound
hounds fit for work, and, considering the matter to
be thus settled, he removed all but seven couple from
Haldon to Oxton.
Lord Haldon took great exception to what he
called " this precipitate step " ; he wrote forbidding
Mr. Studd to use the hounds for hunting, or to draw
his coverts with any other hounds, and refused to
respond to Mr. Studd's conciliatory letters. His
indignation does not seem to have been justified by
the facts, but, in passing judgment on his action,
every allowance must be made for the frame of mind
of a man harassed by financial difficulties and
suffering bitter disappointment.
CHAPTER XIV
MR. EDWARD FAIRFAX STUDD : SECOND
MASTERSHIP, 1886-91
The pack sent back to Haldon — Begins hunting with six couple — A rapidly
formed pack : presents and purchases — Lord Haldon returns his pack to
Oxton — The master's energy — Notes of sport : an vmusual line ; a great
run ; a late find — Death of Lady Rolle — A trial day east of the Exe —
Meeting at Exeter — Hunting on that side definitely established — A
formidable undertaking — Hospitality in the new country — A memorable
day — The East Devon Himt founded — Colonel Garratt : a long master-
ship— Dan North goes to the Western — Succeeded by Smith — Mr. Studd
as huntsman — Anecdote of George Loram — Mr. Studd's perseverance —
His horses — Bad faUs — Members of liis field — The Chudleigh Harriers —
Tom Lambell killed in the field — BiUy Butler — The " Jackdaw Inn " —
The " Blizzard in the West " : personal experiences — Puppy- judging at
Oxton — Good runs — Mr. Tremlett's Hounds — Afternoon cubhunting —
A bad season and its causes — Lord Chfford — Further notes of sport — Mr.
Studd resigns — His fondness for fishing.
'" Grace still in every vale abounds,
But one dear charm is wanting ;
No more I hear my gallant hounds.
In chorus blithely chaunting."
{Farewell to my old Horn. By Geo. Templer.)
IN the face of Lord Haldon's attitude as disclosed
in the last chapter, Mr. Studd had no option but
to send back to Haldon the pack he had " pur-
loined," after putting in only two days cubhunting.
He thus found himself in the embarrassing position
of being pledged to hunt the country and having
only one-and-a-half couple of hounds in kennel in the
first week of October. Nothing daunted, he set to
work at once, and after making a fresh start with
six couple on the 23rd October, was able by the
155
156 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
beginning of the regular season to produce a hound
list giving the names of twenty-six couple and a half.
These consisted of presents from Mr. Hey wood Lons-
dale and Lord Portman, and of purchases from Sir
Bache Cunard, Mr. W. R. Corbett, the Dartmoor,
Mr. Garth, Lord Galway, Mr. Lindsell and the West
Somerset. A present of three couple from the Duke
of Beaufort brought the total up to twenty-nine
couple and a half. Then, on the 12th November,
Lord Haldon, who had evidently thought better of
it, sent his pack to Oxton, and these, with a couple
and a half presented to Mr. Studd by Lord Zetland,
formed the subject of a supplemental hound list and
brought the total strength up to fifty-two couple and
a half. This enabled the master to pick and choose,
and by Christmas the number was reduced by
weeding out to thirty-five couple.
Mr. Studd at this time was in active practice as
a barrister in London, and was consequently a good
deal away from home during this and the succeeding
seasons. Yet a man of his active nature thought
nothing of running down from town by an evening
train, hunting the following day and returning that
evening to London. This, when he came later on to
hunt the pack himself, would have been too great a
strain for most men, but he made nothing of it.
He does not consider the season 1886-7 to have
been a good one ; and yet this can only be con-
sidered relative, for there were many good runs.
That from Netton Cleave, Canonteign, on the 11th
November was over a very unusual line, the fox
going away towards Lustleigh, and crossing the
railway and the river Teign into Houndtor Wood,
whence he ran through Yarner to Rora and got to
ground in Ilsington Town Wood. On the 23rd of the
MR. EDWARD FAIRFAX STUDD 157
same month they had a fast forty-three minutes
from Whiteway to Doddiscombsleigh, kilhng in the
open. Meeting a fortnight later at Pocombe Bridge
the pack had a hard day with a brace of foxes from
Mr. Snow's coverts and ran till stopped by darkness.
The same coverts provided a fox on the 27th January
that gave a great run, first through the heavy wood-
lands of Perridge and Cotley and then away north-
ward, skirting the town of Crediton and killing at
Yeoford Station. St. Valentine's Day was marked
by the pack killing a Luscombe fox in the middle of
Bishopsteignton village after he had failed to effect
an entry into a dwelling-house ; and a very long and
tiring run was that of March 1st, in the course of
which the pack changed foxes twice, the last one
being lost among the farm buildings at Langdon,
which he had been seen to enter dead beat.
At the extreme end of the first season, which
finished with an early hunt (8 a.m.) on the 14th April,
there were two or three blank days. That these were
not due to want of perseverance may be inferred from
the fact that on the 4th April the pack found at
5.45 p.m. and, after a racing fifteen minutes or so,
ran into an old dog fox.
Towards the end of the season, owing to the death
of Lady Rolle, a very large landowner on the east of
the Exe, who had always objected to hounds, it
became possible to think of hunting on that side of
the river, and a desire for opportunity very soon
found expression in that locality. By special request,
Mr. Studd took his pack to Farringdon House on the
2nd April, but the result was disappointing, as it was
nearly 5.30 p.m. before a fox was found, and he got
to ground in less than half an hour. Nevertheless,
this stimulus to the desires of the East Devon sports-
158 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
men settled the question, and they determined that
the country must be hunted in future. Accordingly
the subject was broached at a meeting held at Exeter
on the 22nd April to make arrangements for the
following season, and, at an adjournment thereof
held three weeks later after a meeting of those inter-
ested east of the Exe had taken place in the interim
at Exmouth, Mr. Studd consented to continue on a
subscription of £600 and to hunt each side of the
Exe one day a week, putting in a third day if a
further sum of a hundred pounds was forthcoming.
True to his promise, for the next three seasons IVIr.
Studd hunted the country east of the Exe one day
a week and sometimes three days a fortnight. The
undertaking was a formidable one, for the working
up of a new country is always a laborious matter, and,
notwithstanding the goodwill of the large landowners
and the support of the tenant farmers, it was im-
possible to expect a sufficient stock of foxes for the
first season or two in a country which, report says,
had not been hunted for fifty years. In parts near the
coast, too, the foxes clung to the cliffs, so that from
time to time it was necessary to devote a morning on
foot to rattling them with a few couple of hounds,
and even this did not always have the desired effect
of scattering them inland. In addition, the distances
were often great, especially for such fixtures as
Hembury Fort, Escot, Cadhay Bog, The Grange and
Sidmouth Junction ; and, wherever the pack met,
it was always necessary both in going and returning
to go round by Countess Weir Bridge, which forms the
southernmost crossing of the river Exe. All this
entailed considerable wear and tear on hounds,
horses and men. Few men with enough country
nearer home would have had the energy and public
MR. EDWARD FAIRFAX STUDD 159
spirit to embark on such an enterprise ; fewer still
would have kept it going for three seasons.
But if, from the circumstances of the case, foxes
were not too plentiful in Mr. Studd's first season east
of the Exe, hospitality was abundant, and the
interest and goodwill of the landowners and others
were testified by the number of hunt breakfasts given
at different places of meeting, though all were not on
the scale of magnificence of Mr. Rolle, who enter-
tained some two hundred and fifty people on the
first occasion of hounds meeting at Bicton. These
functions have now gone out of fashion, but there is
no doubt that indirectly they tended to promote the
popularity of the sport, although the keen hands
were wont to grumble at the " waste of time " —
usually after they had satisfied their own require-
ments in the way of chicken and champagne.
Despite the uncertainty of finding, whenever a fox
was forthcoming the hounds gave a good account of
themselves, and, taking the three seasons throughout,
much excellent sport was enjoyed in the new country.
The particulars of such sport hardly come within
the scope of the present work, which purports rather
to deal with the doings within the limits of the South
Devon country proper. One day, however, the 17th
January, 1889, may be mentioned, when, after meet-
ing at Four Cross Ways, Hembury Fort, they ran a
fox right away to the Wellington Monument and
earthed him in the dark on Holcombe Farm in the
parish of Hemyock after two hours and forty-six
minutes. It was nearly midnight before some of
those who were at the finish reached their homes, and
doubtless the hunt staff were among the latest. Before
this run, the hounds had had a very fast forty-five
minutes to ground with another fox.
160 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
By the end of the season 1889-90, the sport had
taken such a firm hold on the people east of the Exe
that they decided to have a pack of their own. So it
came to pass that the " East Devon Hunt " was
formed under the auspices of the Hon. Mark Rolle,
Lord Poltimore, Lord Dunboyne, General Drewe,
Sir John Kennaway, Mr. W. R. Coleridge, Colonel
Garratt, the Rev. J. H. Coplestone, Colonel Talbot
and many others. At a very representative and
enthusiastic meeting held at the New London Hotel,
Exeter, Colonel J. A. T. Garratt was elected master,
a position for which he was peculiarly fitted, not only
by reason of his having acted as field-master for
Mr. Studd whenever the latter was absent, but also
from the fact of his possessing most of the qualifica-
tions necessary to the office. The choice was a
prudent and fortunate one, and Colonel Garratt
remained a very popular master of the East Devon
for twenty-two years, at the end of which period he
resigned in 1912 in favour of his son, Major L. C.
Garratt. Mr. H. W. Gould, who had acted as
honorary secretary on that side of the water for Mr.
Studd, was appointed to act in the same capacity
for the new hunt.
On the formation of the East Devon pack, Mr.
Studd directed his energies to the more efficient
hunting of what was properly speaking his own
country, the Haldon side of the South Devon. Dan
North, who had returned from Haldon to Oxton
when Lord Haldon gave up, had left to go to Mr.
Bolitho's, The Western, in 1888, and had been suc-
ceeded by Smith, who, in addition to being a good
kennel-huntsman, was a capital man in the field and
possessed a great knowledge of how to hunt a fox.
He left after two seasons, and Mr. Studd then deter-
MR. EDWARD FAIRFAX STUDD 161
mined to hunt the pack himself for the future. Gery,
from Mr. Lobb's, was engaged as kennel-huntsman
and to carry the horn when professional duties kept
his master in London. Gery, however, though a
steady man and a good servant, was a failure as
huntsman.
It is rather surprising that a man of Mr. Studd's
quick perceptions and impulsive nature should have
had the patience and perseverance so essentially
necessary to a huntsman in such a country as the
Haldon side. Yet he had these qualities in a marked
degree, and, indeed, occasionally carried the " Let-
'em-alone " system too far, as the following instance
will shew. Hounds had checked on a large patch of
burnt heather on Haldon. Some moments elapsed,
and still the master did not take hold of them.
George Loram then rode up to him and said quietly :
" Beg pardon, sir. The fox isn't here, sir ; we should
see him if he was here, sir.'''' Loram had " a way with
him " and could say these things, and Mr. Studd was
too good a sportsman to take umbrage at a friendly
hint from so good a judge. So he held the pack
forward and recovered the line at once.
Mr. Studd's tastes as a naturalist had developed
his power of observation, a faculty so useful to a
huntsman. He was, in addition, very persevering,
and no man was ever more keen. He would hang on
to the line of a fox as long as there was a scrap of
scent left, and he was very thorough in drawing.
We were never asked to go home as long as daylight
served, and it was often dark before we finished, for
many a fox was found after four o'clock and some,
when days grew longer, an hour and more later. Once,
in cubhunting, a tired fox could not be forced to leave
the little covert at Harcombe for more than a few
M
162 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
hundred yards ; the ground became foiled, scent was
faihng as the morning advanced and the hounds were
getting beaten. Many huntsmen would have given
up and gone home ; Mr. Studd went home, but it was
only to change his tired pack for a fresh one, while
those of the field who were left had some hasty
refreshment at the front door of Oxton. I really
forget whether he killed that fox or not, but the
incident speaks for itself.
During a portion, at any rate, of Mr. Studd's
mastership the hunt horses were supplied on job by
Strong of Bampfylde Mews, Exeter, but the master
always had some useful ones of his own to ride him-
self. In particular one very well-bred little bay mare
called, I think, Polly used to carry him remarkably
well, and a huntsman needs a good one to get quickly
up such a hill, for instance, as the steep side of the
Harcombe Valley and begin to gallop at the top.
But, in truth, the master troubled little about his
horses ; as is the case with many huntsmen, his
hounds absorbed his whole interest, and the horse
was looked upon as a means of getting to the pack.
He was a light weight and a good rider. We probably
get fewer falls over fences in Devonshire than in other
countries, for if a horse can jump banks at all, he will
generally manage to get to the top of them, and it is
surprising how very seldom he falls in landing, even
where the drop is deep — and it is very deep some-
times— or the bank is stone-faced. But Mr. Studd
had at least two heavy falls on the flat ; one in
turning quickly out of a field into a road close to
Ugbrooke Park, and the other through deviating
slightly from the track through the bog in Luton
Bottom while galloping fast. On both occasions he
was knocked out of time for a while, but insisted on
MR. EDWARD FAIRFAX STUDD 163
finishing out the day. Though by no means robust
in appearance, he was wiry and very hard, and,
indeed, is so still. To this day, he wears no waders
when fishing, even when he has a long drive home,
and yet he is a stranger to rheumatism. Not content
with having one son at the front in Flanders who has
already been wounded and returned to the firing
line, another badly wounded in the Dardanelles, a
third invalided home from France, a fourth in the
Flying Corps and a fifth with the latest Canadian
Contingent, he succeeded, through sheer determina-
tion, in getting himself accepted for active service.
After serving some months in France with yet a
sixth son as his subaltern, he is now commanding a
section of an ammunition column near Salonika, and
roughing it with the youngest.
In addition to many of those mentioned in a
previous chapter as prominent hunting men and
farmers on the Haldon side, Mr. Studd's field in his
second mastership often included the following :
Captain Neville Thomas of Mellands ; Sir Alfred
Fairlie-Cuninghame, Bart., then Mr. Cuninghame,
mounted on anything he could get hold of, and very
keen ; Dr. de W. Baker, Miss Cann, Messrs. A. and
J. McCasland and Mr. Southwood from Dawlish ;
the present owner of Luscombe Castle, Mr. P. M.
Hoare, and his brother, Mr. Lennox Hoare ; Mr.
Reginald Hooper of Starcross ; Miss Bradshaw and
her brother ; Mr. Daniell, Kenbury ; The Hon. Mrs.
Haverfield, Exeter ; Mrs. Treeby, Ashton Manor ;
and Mr. H. Parson, Teignmouth. Mr. Charles
Chichester of Kenn was honorary secretary to the
hunt. Tom Lambell, the Chudleigh butcher, a
thorough sportsman, was so fond of hounds that
in the early 'eighties he started a pack, first of
164 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
iDeagles and then of harriers, called the Chudleigh
Harriers, which proved to be the foundation, as at
present established, of the Haldon Harriers. He met
his death some years later in the field, on Dartmoor,
being knocked down by his horse when leading over a
stone wall. Falling against a granite boulder, he was
killed on the spot.
A familiar figure in the field was old Billy Butler,
bailiff at Oxton. He had been in the service of Mr.
Studd and his family all his life and was an old man
and toothless when I first saw him, the occasion
being the finding of the red deer on the opening day
in 1882 as related in an earlier chapter. ^ He it was
who first gave us the clue to what was afoot, as he
came tearing down the road below the Jackdaw Inn
lisping out in his cracked voice : " Stag gone away !
Stag gone away ! " I may here explain that the said
Jackdaw Inn has been the disappointment of many
wayfarers who knew it only by name, for it consists
merely of a deserted tollhouse, now in ruins, and
acquired its name (on the authority of Billy Butler)
from the fact that a certain old woman who once had
charge of the turnpike gate kept a tame jackdaw and
did a little refreshment business there on the quiet.
Billy Butler was quite part of the hunt establish-
ment and had a wonderful instinct in placing himself
in a position to view a fox. He was an enthusiast,
and insisted in subscribing handsomely to the pack
while it was kept by his master. He remained on at
Oxton as a pensioner until his death about the year
1912 at the age of ninety-four. When well over eighty,
he used still to poke about on his pony, and, when
past that, would turn out on foot to have a look at
hounds when they were visible from Oxton. Only
1 See p. 137.
MR. EDWARD FAIRFAX STUDD 165
a year before his death he complained to me of his
hat and boots liaving been hidden to prevent his
going out in the rain to watch the pack on the hilL
His was a kindly and faithful nature. Devoted to
his master, who treated him as a friend, he never
forgot his position. Yet he spoke his mind freely, as
when he saw Mr. Studd for the first time in a pair of
brown polo boots, which had just then come into
fashion, and asked him : " Master, whatever makes
you wear them foppish boots ? " He appears on the
extreme left in the picture facing this page.
Another useful retainer at Oxton was Robinson the
stud-groom, who was always at hand when a fox had
to be taken by the scruff of the neck out of an earth.
He is still to the fore, and for years past has brought
his master's children successively into the field.
It was in Mr. Studd's mastership that the western-
most counties were visited by the terrific snowstorm
commonly known as the " Blizzard in the West,'*
which wrought such fearful havoc. Plantations were
decimated, roofs blown off, vessels torn from their
moorings and wrecked, the postal and telegraph
system paralysed ; travellers by road and rail had to
stay where they were or struggle to the nearest
shelter, cattle, sheep and ponies, and indeed some
human beings, died of exposure, and whole trains
were snowed up. From the evening of that day,
Monday, no train reached Plymouth from up the
line until the following Saturday.
The storm occurred on Monday the 9th March,
1891, on which date the hounds met at Haldon Race
Stand. The wind was bitterly cold from the north-
east, but we found a brace of foxes and hunted one
for a while with a fair scent. About noon snow began
to fall and the wind increased in force. Still we
166 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
persevered, and ultimately put a terrier into the drain
in Kiddens, where he remained an unconscionable
time. Probably he found it warmer underground and
went to sleep while we shivered above. At last we
left him and went on with the intention of drawing
Oxencombe. It was now one o'clock and snowing
hard, and the plain of Haldon was already white.
Finding that the field had all left, I induced Gery
(who, to do him justice, was keen enough) to take
the hounds home, and then started homewards
myself by way of the Race Stand as being the most
direct route. By this time a hurricane was raging,
driving the snow before it in fine powder without
allowing time for the formation of snowflakes, and
this characteristic of a true blizzard doubtless
accounts for the name by which this storm is still
remembered.
On the high exposed ground of Haldon its full force
was felt, and it was impossible to raise one's eyelids.
The cold was intense. My thick hunting-coat felt
like a silk racing-jacket. I was riding a thorough-
bred mare, half-sister to Robert the Devil, that would
have cantered the dozen miles home well within the
hour under normal conditions. But the inequalities
of the ground being hidden by the snow, which in
addition was balling frightfully, precluded anything
beyond a slow walk, and the journey in consequence
took four times as long as it should have done. The
changed aspect of things and the difficulty of seeing
made me miss the usual crossing below the race-
course, but we got through at another spot, which
was lucky. All this while, I was anxious about my
friend, Mr. Fred Davies, now Lieut. -Colonel F. G. H.
Davies of the Guides, thinking he might be attempt-
ing to return by the way we had come over Haldon
MR. EDWARD FAIRFAX STUDD 167
together in the morning, which he did not know well
enough to find in such weather. I blew my horn,
which I carried as field-master in Mr. Studd's absence,
but, as happened to Mr. Jorrocks on a famous
occasion, the raging tempest scattered the notes
before they were well out of my mouth. It was a
weary ride ; not a single habitation lay in the line of
route even after leaving the common and striking the
road at the Thorns, and all the way the snow was
driving into my face and left ear. At last, battered,
wet and half perished with the cold, I reached home,
which is more than many people did on that memor-
able day. I found Mr. Davies had left before me and
had been advised to take the longer but more
sheltered road. So great was the fall of snow, that it
was still to be seen a month later lying where the
drifts had been. The recollection of that day calls to
mind Strutt's reflection on the sport of fox-hunting :
" Although the pastime be great, yet many times the
toyle and paine is also exceeding great : And then
it may be called eyther a painful pastime or a pleasant
payne."
The annual puppy-judging at Oxton was always a
great event. The invitation was issued by advertise-
ment in the papers and was addressed to all interested
in the hunt and "all farmers whether they hunt or
not." In addition to the interest attaching to the
young entry (and Mr. Studd took a lot of trouble to
improve the pack), it brought together the hunting
men and the farmers and promoted much good
fellowship.
As the name "South Devon" had been resumed
by the pack hunting the Newton side, Mr. Studd,
during this his second mastership, called his pack the
"South Devon (Exeter Division)."
168 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
Reference has been made to the sport shewn on the
Haldon side during the first season of the period
covered by this chapter, and it will be sufficient to
refer to one or two of the best days of the remaining
seasons.
On the 3rd November, 1887, what was described as
an " extraordinary " run took place from Pocombe
Bridge, Lower Fordlands Covert providing the fox.
They ran by Ide Village and over Rose Bridge Farm
to Pocombe Bridge, Westwood Farm and Cotley
Wood, turning then to the right and crossing Cuttridge
and Bond House Farms, on to Traveller's Rest and
over EndtoAvn Farm and straight away to White-
stone Woods, where they killed.
Another, a fast fifty-five minutes ending with a
kill, occurred on the next following hunting day,
7th November, a Kiddens fox taking the pack at a
great pace over the country around Whiteway,
Ashton, Trusham, Ranscombe and Farley, and finish-
ing by Chudleigh Station. This was followed by
another good run and a kill on Haldon in the after-
noon. One capital hunt was brought off in a blinding
snowstorm on the 17th February from Powder ham,
but the snow at last put an end to the run.
The season 1888-9 was marked by some specially
good days. On Boxing Day, despite bad weather,
there was a rare scent all day, and, not content with
killing one fox and earthing another, both after good
runs, Mr. Studd found a third late in the day and
killed him by starlight near Matford after a good hour
and a quarter in the open.
The 14th January was another day worth record-
ing, two foxes getting to ground at the Round O, the
first going straight there from Luton Bottom, the
pace being very fast ; and the second, found near the
MR. EDWARD FAIRFAX STUDD 169
Race Stand, after going first to Harcoinbe and then
taking a big ring by Whiteway, Oxencombe, Har-
combe and Chudleigh. It should be mentioned that
Mr. Short, the owner of the Round O, did not hke the
earths to be stopped, being more intent on preserving
than on kiUing foxes.
But the run of the season, and indeed of many
seasons, was that on the 28th January, when the
pack met at Bellamarsh. One fox from the Sands
was killed after a short ring. The pack was then laid
on the line of another which had gone towards Well
Covert, where they fresh found him and settled
down to run like mad. The line was through Luton
Bottom, Tower Plantation, Ashcombe, Mamhead,
past Mamhead House, then left-handed to Thorns,
on to Harcombe, Oxencombe, Whiteway, Kiddens,
Bramble, Lakecombe, Windy Cross, Culver and
Holcombe Burnell, and the fox was killed in Mr.
Snow's Covert by Traveller's Rest. The point was
fifteen or sixteen miles, and only six besides the
huntsman, Smith, got to the end. Among these was
Mr. C. Young of the 80th Regiment, a complete
stranger to the country. I have no record of the
time, but remember that the pace was very severe up
to Kiddens, after which it slackened. Unluckily Mr.
Studd was not out that day.
More foxes were found in the following season,
1889-90, than had ever been found before, the total
number hunted, including cubhunting, being a
hundred and fifty. Nevertheless, or perhaps for that
very reason, it is difficult to pick out any particular
run as shewing special pre-eminence, though there
were many excellent days and the average standard
of sport was distinctly good. Perhaps the St.
Patrick's Day's run, on the 17th March, was as
170 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
typical as any. Meeting at Haldon Belvidere, the
pack first put a vixen to ground and then raced a
dog-fox for three-quarters of an hour, when he too
found shelter below. Finding again at Goosemoor,
they ran their third fox by the Belvidere to Kiddens,
left-handed to Whiteway and round to the Belvidere
again, and then on by the Brick Kilns to Doddis-
combsleigh and Scannacleave, killing an old dog-fox
in the open.
The pack occasionally clashed with Mr. Tremlett's
Hounds, which hunted some country north of that
covered by Mr. Studd, and in this particular season
also got mixed up in Bridford Wood with Mr.
Norton's Hounds, and the two packs together hunted
a brace of foxes around that big woodland.
Mr. Studd tried once the experiment that has been
tried by other masters, namely, afternoon cub-
hunting, and met at Oxton at 3 p.m. on the 7th
September, getting home at eight in the evening.
The experiment, however, was not repeated.
Several causes contributed to make Mr. Studd's
last season, 1890-1, a bad one. In the first place,
throughout the cubhunting season and well into the
regular season, the weather was very dry and hot,
with a consequent absence of scent. It was, in fact,
a very bad scenting season throughout. After
Christmas, frost and snow interfered considerably
with the sport. Then on the 9th March came the
famous blizzard already referred to, following an
abnormal February during which month not a single
drop of rain fell in the country. The practice of
letting shootings, too, which had been on the increase
of recent years, took an even more extended form,
with the result that not only did the number of foxes
decrease in a marked degree, but many coverts were
MR. EDWARD FAIRFAX STUDD 171
closed to hounds until after Christmas. In fact, the
master was put to it to fit in two days a week and
had to have frequent recourse to such places as
Bridford Wood and Dunsford Bridge. Mr. Studd,
too, was away a great deal this season.
Nevertheless, as happens even in the worst of
seasons, there were some days when scent served well,
and on those good runs were scored.
Thus, on a bleak and misty 4th December, one fox
was killed after a fast forty minutes round Haldon
and Whiteway ; this success was followed im-
mediately by a run from the Half Moon Piece at
Whiteway, by Bramble and Higher Ashton Brakes to
Loyal Moor and to ground, dead beat, in Whiteway
drain ; and this fox had hardly got to ground when
another was holloa'd away, taking the pack through
Oxencombe, over the plain of Haldon by the Race
Stand to Goosemoor, Freer's Bottom, by Woodlands
House to Bickham, and ultimately to ground in the
stronghold of the Round O.
Lord Clifford, though not a hunting man, has
always been a staunch fox-preserver, and, moreover,
no difficulty has ever been made about drawing his
coverts. He it was who provided the fox which gave
a capital chase on the 15th December, 1890, keeping
well to the open country. First visiting Chudleigh
Rocks, this fox went on to what used to be called
Perrott's Plantation, taking its name from the
excellent farmer hard by ; from there, over One Tree
Hill and by Ideford to Well Covert, which he threaded
from end to end, and thence through the Sands and
Gappagh Brakes to Sandslade, where he went in. An
hour and a half's good hunting run.
Again, nothing could be better than the doings of
the pack on the day they met at Canonteign, 12th
172 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
February. The local fox refused to leave the rough
country around the cleave and eventually went to
ground. Kiddens was then drawn blank, but the
Belvidere sheltered a brace, one of which safely
reached the Round O after a spin via Goosemoor.
Fox number three, disturbed in the Round O, went
back over the same line of country to the Belvidere,
thence to Dunchideock Wood and Cotleigh, where he
waited for the pack. The pace improved as hounds
ran on over Halscombe to Idestone Farm and back
by Dunchideock, and after a ring through School
Wood and Belvidere, and a flourish in the direction
of the Round O, the hounds pulled him down in the
open on Haldon Lawn. There was a rare scent that
day.
At the end of the season 1890-1, the fifth season of
this his second mastership, Mr. Studd, to the regret
of his supporters, gave up the country, which then
for a time, as will appear hereafter, ceased to be
hunted by a separate pack.^
Mr. Studd was, and still is, an enthusiastic fisher-
man both for salmon and trout. A celebrated master
of hounds, I think it was John Chaworth Musters of
the Quorn, on being asked what he considered to be
the best sport in the world is reported to have
answered : " Why, of course, foxhun — no ! damme,
salmon fishing ! " and I am not sure that Mr. Studd's
answer would not have been the same. He would
argue that, given the weather conditions necessary to
either sport, success in fishing depends more on the
individual himself, who is not at the mercy of the
many outside influences that so often occur to mar
the other sport. The subject is an interesting one to
discuss with an exponent of both.
1 See p. 208.
2. THE NEWTON SIDE
CHAPTER XV
AUGUSTUS F. ROSS: SECOND MASTERSHIP, 1879-82
Mr. E. Fearnley Tanner hunts the Newton side 1878-9 — " Dart and Teign
Foxhounds " — Inadequate support — Afterwards keeps a private pack —
Kennels at Hawson Court — Has a bad fall — Three good runs — Mr.
Augustus Kingston hon. sec. — Mr. Ross again comes forward — Appointed
master — No guarantee — Keruiels at Ambrook — Arthur Mason huntsman
— Philip Back returns as whipper-in — His subsequent career — Some runs
— Hunt breakfast at Cockington Court — Some of the field — The pack
visits Sir Henry Scale's old country : a good nm and those who saw it —
Personal recollections — Mr. Ross as a falconer — As a musician — Resigna-
tion— Offer of hotmds — The Newton side claimed by the masters of the
Haldon — Claim suspended and Mr. Hemming's offer accepted — Mr,
Hemming's disappearance — The country reverts to Mr. Whidbome and
Mr. Studd.
" Adhesive by nature to hounds and the table
He neither would leave while to stay he was able."
(A Party at Stover.)
FOR the first season, 1878-9, after partition
of the country, the Newton side was hunted
by Mr. E. Fearnley Tanner, then hving at Hawson
Court, Buckfastleigh. At the meeting at which Mr.
Tanner's offer to hunt the Newton side was first
made it was proposed to call the pack " The Dart
and Teign Foxhounds," and a circular inviting sub-
scriptions was actually sent out under this title.
Perhaps it was thought that the new pack on the
Haldon side would assume the name " South Devon."
At any rate, the " Dart and Teign " idea was dropped,
and Mr. Tanner became master of the " South
Devon."
^73
174 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
In his modesty, Mr. Tanner tells me that his tenure
of the mastership was neither long nor eventful
enough to demand recognition. It is clear that it
would have been longer had he received anything
like adequate support, for after his resignation he
continued to hunt for several years with a private
pack of his own a country composed of loans from
the Dartmoor and South Devon extending, roughly
speaking, from Buckfastleigh to Princetown and from
Cator to the river Avon. Mr. Tanner built kennels
at Hawson Court. He hunted the pack himself until
he broke his jaw in a fall on the last day of the year
1886, and his kennel-huntsman and whipper-in,
Churchward, then took command until the end of the
season. Of the sport shewn while the pack was a
private one, three runs call for mention, viz. Shear
Wood to ground at Ivybridge Viaduct ; Langamarsh
to Tavy Cleave ; and Huntingdon Warren to Fox
Tor and Rippon Tor. Mr. Augustus Hingston of
Totnes acted as honorary secretary during Mr.
Tanner's brief spell of office as master of the South
Devon.
No sign of any successor to Mr. Tanner being forth-
coming by the month of June, 1879, Mr. Ross, who
was still living in the country, volunteered to hunt
the Newton side. After some negotiations, he was
appointed master without any guarantee, the com-
mittee undertaking to do its best to beat up sub-
scriptions. These terms were renewed in the ensuing
two seasons.
During this, his second term of office, Mr. Ross
lived and kennelled his hounds at Ambrook, near
Ipplepen. In the table of hunts in Baily's Magazine,
the master is stated to be huntsman, but whatever
may have been the intention before the season began,
AUGUSTUS F. ROSS 175
it is clear that Arthur Mason hunted the pack from
the opening day. PhiHp Back, who after his early
experience with Mr. Ross had put in two years in
private service and two more as kennel-huntsman
and whip to Mr. Netherton's Harriers, returned to
Mr. Ross as whipper-in. He remained for one season
and then, after hunting the Modbury Harriers for
three seasons, entered Mr. Calmady's service and
developed into one of the best huntsmen in Devon-
shire.
The season opened on the 27th October, when the
hounds met at Kingskerswell Arch. The Down,
usually a sure find thanks to Mr. Hercules Brown
of Barton Hall, was drawn blank, but a fox was
found in Maddicott's Plantation which took the pack
over Dainton Hill to Stoneycombe, where he turned
to Bulleigh Barton and went on by Wrigwell to
Brownston. The earths here being stopped, the fox
skirted Coombe Fishacre and went to Wickaborough.
Crossing the Totnes road by Red Post, the pack ran
at a great pace to Lillypitt, thence to Waye Barton,
where a sheepdog caused a check. Time, fifty
minutes, the pace at times being terrific. Arthur
very soon hit the line again, and they rattled him
down the valley to Gatcombe Plantation, where they
rolled him over.
On the 12th November the pack met at Ambrook,
the Master's new residence, and the field numbered
from ninety to a hundred. A cub was killed after
half an hour's ringing run, and an old fox was found
on Dainton Common. They rattled him over the
hill to Bulleigh, where they turned to Compton,
racing through Mr. Anthony's big fields, skirting
Brownscombe, to Coombe. Ringing here a bit, and
away for Ipplepen, and Ox Hill, they crossed the line
176 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
to Bow Grange, pointing for Staverton, where the
fox ran them out of scent after an hour's good
hunting run.
The hunt received much hospitahty at this time,
and on the 11th December Mr. Richard Mallock gave
a hunt breakfast at Cockington Court, where a large
field assembled. The coverts were unfortunately
blank, though a drag was touched here and there ;
but from Berry Woods the hounds got away with a
fox. The frost, however, made riding so dangerous
that the master stopped the pack.
On the 15th from Wolston Green they had a
capital fifty minutes with a fox found in Crick Brake
which got to ground in Percombe Brake. Another
was found in Gurrington Wood and went to earth in
Hobbin.
From Kingskerswell, on February 7th, the hounds
killed a fox in the open after a very sharp but twisting
forty-eight minutes, the points touched being Coombe
Fishacre, Wrigwell, Ipplepen, Berry, Marldon, Comp-
ton and Whiddon, the fox being killed between that
place and Haccombe. The going was very heavy,
and there was a great deal of jumping. Amongst
those mentioned as in at the death were Colonel and
Miss Ridley, Mr. and Mrs. Luxmoore, Messrs. J.
Kitson, W. Clack, Casavetti, Studdy, Riley, Codner,
Gibbons, Rendell and Dering.
At this time, that part of the country formerly
hunted by Sir Henry Scale was not regularly hunted,
but on March 11th Mr. Ross took his pack to Morley
Toll Bar, and was met by a field of over a hundred
horsemen. Finding in Storridge Moor and running
over the earths at Newhouse, they turned to the left,
and, going on to Highmarks, described a circle, and
entered Storridge Wood. Here the pack divided,
AUGUSTUS F. ROSS 177
several foxes being afoot, and, after a slow cold-
scenting run of an hour and twenty minutes, the
hunted fox was lost near Topsham Bridge. The
hounds were then trotted off to some coverts on the
right bank of the Avon above Gara Bridge, permission
to draw which had been given by Admiral Parker,
the master of the Dartmoor Hounds. After drawing
two or three coverts blank (the Dartmoor Hounds
having run through them, and killed a fox on the
preceding Friday and Tuesday), the hounds were
thrown into a young larch plantation at Clunkamoor,
when almost immediately a fox was seen to slip out
at the bottom. After being headed, he turned to the
right, pointing for Blackball, and the hounds raced
away over some stiffly fenced grass fields on Bickham
Farm ; then leaving Huish village on the left, they sank
the valley by the Parsonage and checked on the hill
opposite Langford. On recovering the line, they ran
over the Langford meadows, and, going over Butter-
ford and Whetcombe (where the stiff fences stopped
not a few of the field), faced the rising ground to
Corswell, and, after entering Leigh Copse and running
straight through Timber Wood, Hotall and Harts
Wood, got on to some heavy plough-land near Black-
down, where scent failed. Time, one hour and ten
minutes, with only two checks. Among those who
stuck to the hounds and rode the whole run were the
master, Miss Bidder, Captain Chichester and Messrs.
Riley, G. Allen, Codner (Torquay), Hare, Arundel,
J. Trist and a few others. Having regard to the
nature of the country, and to the fact that it was
strange to the huntsman, the day's sport seems to
have been very satisfactory.
At the time I remember Mr. Ross, the hunt had
come to rather a low ebb. One brilliant burst I
178 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
recall, when we ran a fox to ground on the railway
embankment somewhere in the neighbourhood of
Staverton. The circumstance of a very fast gallop
over dusty fallows under a scorching March sun was
one to make an impression on the mind of a youngster.
At that time Mr. Ross generally rode a white-grey
horse. One old hound, Chanticleer, would sit by his
horse's heels while the pack was drawing, and when
hounds spoke in cover he was a pretty safe guide as
to whether it was right or not.
Mr. Ross was fond of the old-fashioned sport of
falconry, which he followed on Haldon and other open
places. He was also, like that celebrated sportsman
Colonel Peter Hawker, a musician of no mean order,
which doubtless accounted for his blowing an excel-
lent note on the horn.
The hunt is indebted to Mr. Ross for twice stepping
into the breach and keeping the sport alive. He gave
up finally at the end of the season 1881-2 ; and when
he did so, he offered to lend his pack and the use of
his kennels to the country, or the pack alone, for a
definite period ; or, alternatively, to sell his hounds to
any master that might succeed him, or to the com-
mittee. But as no successor was forthcoming, the
Newton side, or southern portion of the South Devon
country, was, as already stated,^ claimed by Mr. J.
Whidborne and Mr. E. F. Studd, who had then just
agreed to take over jointly the Haldon side vacated
by the first Baron Haldon (formerly Sir Lawrence
Palk) and Sir John Duntze, but the claim was
suspended when a new master, in the person of Mr.
Hemming, was found for the Newton side.
Mr. Hemming was procured through an advertise-
ment in the sporting papers, and his offer to hunt the
1 See p. 137.
AUGUSTUS F. ROSS 179
Newton side on £300 a year was accepted.* He had
a great belief, as some people have, in the beneficial
effects of salt water on hounds and used constantly
to take the pack down to Paignton for a swim, which,
it is said, cost him the loss of a couple of hounds by
drowning. But before the time had come to begin
cubhunting, the new master vanished. The Newton
side accordingly reverted to Mr. Whidborne and Mr.
Studd, who put in several days' cubhunting on that
side.
^ S.D.H. Minutes of Meetings.
CHAPTER XVI
JOHN WHIDBORNE: SECOND MASTERSHIP, 1882-5
Dissolution of partnership between Mr. Whidbome and Mr. Studd — Whid-
borne elects to hunt the Newton side — Kennels at Lidwell — Jack Whit-
more engaged as huntsman — " Mr. Whidbome's Hounds " — Kennel and
stable arrangements — Establishment — Early hours — No subscription —
Mr. Hext and Mr. Rendell appointed honorary secretaries : their qualifica-
tions— A bitch pack — Individual hounds — A small pack — Long distances
— A narrow shave — Whitmore as a huntsman — Scarcity of foxes — A case
of riot — A good run in his first season — An improvement in the second
season — A great riin : change foxes with Mr. Bragg's — Other good nxns —
Miss Whidbome — Horses — Whips : Doyle ; Edwards ; Derges — William
Paul : one of the old school — Pleasant memories — How the name " South
Devon Hounds " was resumed — Whidbome resigns — Lord Haldon waives
his claim to the country — Negotiations with Mr. C. Marshall — Dr. Gaye
comes forward and is accepted.
" All that we love or long for or regret
We may resign, but never can forget."
{On looking back from Haldon for the last time on Stover
AS stated in an earlier chapter, ^ the partnership
Jr\. between Mr. Whidborne and Mr. Studd came
to a sudden and dramatic end on the opening day of
their first season. Thereupon Mr. Whidborne decided
to hunt the southern portion or Newton side of the
country, leaving Mr. Studd to continue alone on the
Haldon side. Accordingly, kennels were hurriedly
fitted up at Lidwell, a farm in the valley under Haldon
between Dawlish and Teignmouth owned by Mr.
Whidborne, whither such of the hounds as belonged
to him were transferred. Jack Whitmore, formerly
with Mr. Froude Bellew, was engaged as hunts-
1 See pp. 137, 139.
i8o
JOHN WHIDBOBNE, 1882
MR. WHIDBORNE'S HOUNDS
To face page ISO
JOHN W^IDBORNE 181
man, and drafts were procured from the Oakley
and other packs. All this took time, and the season
was fairly well advanced before a beginning could
be made. The pack was called " Mr. Whidborne's
Hounds " during his first two seasons, as the title
" South Devon " had then already been adopted by
the pack on the Haldon side.
Mr. Whidborne, with his daughter, Miss Whid-
borne, took up his residence for the season at his
cottage, " Brookside," Kingsteignton, which he had
used for many years as a hunting-box, renting the
farmyard across the road for additional stabling.
Here he kept his own and some of the hunt horses,
the remainder being at his home, Gorway, at Teign-
mouth. This arrangement, with the kennels at
Lidwell, as stated, a matter of five miles outside
Whidborne's country, was an inconvenient one, and
entailed much hard work, besides requiring more
horses than would have been necessary if kennels
and master's residence had been more centrally
situated. At one time Mr. Whidborne kept seventeen
horses, but these included a pair of carriage horses
and his own hunters, besides those of Miss Whidborne
and her groom. As the stable accommodation at
Gorway and Brookside was insufficient, a range of
wooden boxes was erected in a garden opposite the
stable entrance to Gorway. I have known Whitmore
leave his home on Brook Hill, in Teignmouth, at one
o'clock in the morning to reach Spitchwick at five
for cubhunting. He had first to walk half a mile to
Gorway for his hack, ride two miles to Lidwell for
his hounds, thence another four miles to Kings-
teignton, where he changed on to his hunter, ulti-
mately reaching Spitchwick when, as he used to put
it, it was " just light enough to see the rabbit holes."
182 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
The whip had a better time, as his journey usually
began and finished at Kingsteignton, another man
helping hounds to and from the kennels. Those days
were less luxurious than these, and early hours were
in vogue for eubhunting, which most people (except
at the moment their alarum clocks go off) will agree is
the better time of day.
During his first season, Whidborne hunted the
country at his own expense without any subscription.
The following season he stipulated for a subscription
of three hundred pounds, but the sum paid him did
not reach that figure, and he then decided to hunt the
country another season (1884-5) at his own expense
rather than put himself under obligation to the hunt.
In July, 1883, Mr. George H. Hext and Mr. Arthur
S. Rendell, both of Newton Abbot, were appointed
joint honorary secretaries. The hunt organization had
practically dwindled to nothing since the Hemming
fiasco, and the setting of things upon a proper footing
once again was, as it always is in such cases, very
uphill work. No better men, however, could have
been chosen for the task than the two gentlemen
named. Their personal popularity was great, and
they were both very well known. Mr. Hext had a
most pleasing way of extorting subscriptions, and
Mr. Rendell's intimate acquaintance with the farmers
in the hunt ensured their support and co-operation.
Both were real sportsmen and instigated by a keen
love of hunting, but time was necessarily required for
their labours to produce fruit. The work of a hunt
secretary is not done in the limelight, and no one
will ever know the full extent of the advantage that
accrued to the hunt from the appointment of Mr.
Hext and Mr. Rendell to the secretaryship. The
latter retired after six years' good work, but the
JOHN WHIDBORNE 183
former remained in office for a period of over twenty
years, and on retiring received a presentation, which
will be mentioned in its proper place, and was
elected chairman of the hunt committee, a position
that he still occupies.
IMr. Whidborne decided to keep only a bitch pack,
and, instead of breeding, to recruit its strength each
year by the purchase of drafts. The pack at first
consisted of hounds bought from Lord Portsmouth's,
the Oakley, the Rufford, Mr. Coryton's, Mr. Froude
Bellew's, the Dartmoor, the Fitzwilliam and other
packs, and included a first-season hound that turned
out well, called Wonderful, by the great Belvoir
Weathergage, sire of the famous Gambler. Witch-
craft, from Mr. Coryton's, was another young hound
that turned out so good a hunter that she was kept
on despite her riotous proclivities. Lavender, a good-
looking daughter of Lord Portsmouth's Albion and
a great favourite of Miss Whidborne's, Brunette by
Lord Portsmouth's Vagabond, from Mr. Bellew's,
and the red-pied Relish from the Tynedale were also
good hounds. In fact, taking into consideration the
circumstances attending its formation, the little pack
was a most creditable one both in appearance and in
the field.
Whitmore, who w^as a cousin of Tom Whitmore, the
celebrated Oakley huntsman through whom each year
some capital drafts were obtained, came of a first-
rate hunting stock and thoroughly understood the
art of getting hounds into condition. Every rib was
visible, yet they were filled out over the loins, and
their coats always looked well.
To hunt two days a week there were never more
and often less than twenty-two couple in kennel,
including young hounds, and the distances to and
184 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
from the various fixtures were almost always con-
siderable and often very great. Such fixtures as
Berry, Galmpton, Welstor Cross, Shinner's Bridge,
Widdicombe, Staverton, Churston, Furzeleigh Mill
and Spitchwick always meant tiring days and long
journeys back to kennel. In many a ride home from
such distant, and even more distant, places, often by
moonlight, I have noticed that, with very few
exceptions, the hounds came home with their sterns
up, a great number keeping in front of their hunts-
man all the way. We were nearly run down one dark
night by a brewer's dray coming at a great pace down
the hill we were ascending. Whitmore, who heard
the din of the approaching vehicle, saved the pack
by whipping out his horn and blowing such a blast
as terrified the driver into pulling up. Compliments
were exchanged as we passed.
Born and bred, so to speak, in the kennel, Whit-
more had all the qualities and the knowledge of an
excellent huntsman. There was little he did not
know about hounds and their various ailments, and
in the field he was quick, observant and persevering.
That was when he was at his best, but at times,
despite his master's efforts, he was not to be relied
upon. He was a good horseman, but lacked the
powerful voice necessary in the deep woodlands of
South Devon, and, as a consequence, he used his horn
too much.
The sport, during the first year of Whidborne's
mastership, was not brilliant. The country had been
going down for two or three years ; there had been
no cubhunting ; and, with no apparent prospect of
the country being hunted, it is not to be wondered at
that foxes were lamentably scarce. As was to be
expected, there were many blank days, very harmful
JOHN WHIDBORNE 185
to a newly-formed pack. On one occasion, after
drawing well into the afternoon without finding, we
were sitting on our horses, the half-dozen of us left,
watching the pack draw Bagtor Mire. Presently,
the hounds appeared to be running, though the wind
was too high for us to hear if they were speaking, and
Jack Whitmore, who was with us, did not stir or
speak. — " What's that hound leading ? " asked Mr.
Whidborne. " That's Bridget, sir," was the answer.
After a few moments the master again broke the
silence with : " What are they running, Whitmore ? "
" / think they are running that pony, sir,"" came the
reply. And the pony it was. With few foxes, and
little " legitimate " riot on the moor, there was some
excuse for the delinquents.
Nevertheless, the season was not entirely devoid of
good runs. On the 24th February, 1883, after
meeting at Heathfield Station, the pack struck a
drag on Bovey Heathfield which took them into the
Wilderness, where they found. They went away at a
great pace over a heavy country with many banks,
the line being through Coalsworth}'^ Farm by Whissel-
well and Owlacombe Plantations, on to Heytor Down,
where the fox ran very cunning, past Heytor Rock
and on through Hoi well Farm. Here the fog was
very thick, and we had to ride hard to keep the
hounds in sight as they broke the wall by White Gate.
From there our fox went on to Bonehill, just above
Widdicombe, where he succeeded in finding a friendly
crevice from which he could not be dislodged. The
run lasted just over the hour, and the distance, as
hounds ran, was stated to be about twelve miles. On
the map, from point to point, it is just over six miles.
Only five of the field in addition to the huntsman
lived to see the finish, and the writer of the account
186 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
calls attention to the fact that they were all riding
horses between fourteen and fifteen hands high.
In Whidborne's second season, things were much
better. Foxes were more plentiful, the pack had
been improved, the country well " summered " and
the affairs of the hunt were in better working order.
In those days the shooting difficulty was much less
acute than it is to-day, and rabbit -trapping was not
carried on in the wholesale way with which we have
since grown familiar. The sport in the season 1883-4
was very good. Probably the best run in the whole
of this mastership was that which occurred on the
14th February, 1884.
The pack met at New Inn and found in Rora, the
fox first attempting to break over Ramshorn Down,
where he was twice headed back into the covert. He
then crossed the bottom and went away to Ilsington
Town Wood and on by Ilsington Village and the
Narracombe Bottom (where he was viewed some four
hundred yards in front of the pack) to the Heytor
Vale at a great pace. Here, in the small coverts and
broken ground, he made a lot of work, but, without a
word from their huntsman, the hounds carried the
line on to the open moor beyond, bearing at first to
the right as if Yarner was the fox's point. But he
was a moorman and a traveller, and, turning outward
again and disdaining the Rubble Heap, he crossed
the Leighon Valley to Hound Tor Rocks and
Swannerton Gate at a clipping pace, only a few of
the field being able to keep the pack in sight. From
here the line lay over Heatree Down and through
Heathercombe Brake on to Hamildown, where Mr.
Bragg's hounds were seen running on the left, and so
by King Tor and over Shapeley Common to Moor
Gate. Crossing the road, hounds ran on across
JOHN ^^'H^DBORXE 187
Jesson to Femworthy and over Middleton Hill, over-
looking Chagford, pointing for Gidleigh. Here the
first check occurred, the fox having been met at the
entrance to a farmyard by the farmer's wife, who,
exclaiming, " Here's a young fox ! " set the sheep-
dog at him. A holloa a few fields ahead set matters
right for the moment, but the sheepdog had done the
customary mischief, and though hounds stuck well
to the line as far as the hamlet of Thorn, the fox's
life was saved by the over-eagemess of the coimtry
people there, who caused confusion by holloaing in
different places at the same time. "Whitmore's horse
was " done," as were also those of his eight or ten
companions, and in addition had lost a shoe. The
point was said to be about fifteen miles and the time
about two hours and a half up to the moment of
giving up. Miss ^Mlidborne, on Silvertail, and Mrs.
Splatt saw this gallant run from find to finish.
The pack undoubtedly changed foxes on Hamil-
down, and it was the opinion of many that Mr. Bragg
killed Mr. AMiidborne's fox and that Mr. "\Miidborne's
hounds went on with ]\Ir. Bragg's fox which was
fresher.
Shinner's Bridge fixtures provided two or three
good runs in this season. One was a two-hours' hunt
from Penny's Grove to Berry, the first hour being
very good. Another fox was found in Berry the same
day and killed after an hour's run. Another day,
after meeting at Shinner's Bridge, a fine run resulted
with a fox from North Wood. He first went down by
the river Dart to within about a mile of Totnes, then
turned back and crossed the road at Shinner's Bridge.
He then made for Hood Copse, through which he
passed, and ran the road under Velwell House and
never left it until within a few fields of Luscombe
188 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
Wood, giving us a gallop of about a mile and a half
on the road as hard as horses could go. Here, he
turned to the left, and, after crossing the vale at
Willing, made straight for the village of Dean, where
we were close to him. From there he made over the
hill to within a field of Dean Wood, where, as bad
luck would have it, he got to ground dead-beat close
before the hounds. Time, one hour and a half.
During her father's mastership Miss Whidborne,
who had hunted regularly ever since Mr. Westlake
first kept the hounds, took a very keen interest in the
hunt and in the pack, and was of great assistance to
her father, who was not always able to be out. Not
that she asserted her position in the field, except
upon occasion, as, for instance, w^hen the huntsman
would be disposed to kill a fox on the earth which she
considered should be given a chance. But she was
always there to be consulted if necessary and to
exercise a moral control upon hunt servants and field
alike ; and, knowing as she did all about the sport,
the country and the people, she could always be
relied on to give a clear and accurate accoiuit of
what had taken place. She was a good rider and had
a good eye herself for a country, besides having an
excellent attendant in the person of her groom, John
Croot, whose hawk-like eye has been known to view
a fox as it crossed the narrow space of an open
gateway a couple of fields distant.
Of course. Miss \'\Tiidborne was well mounted. In
the likeness of her given here, she is mounted on
Killeen, an Irish hunter of good stamp and quality,
and a great favourite of hers. Then there was the
grey. Shamrock, also Irish, to my mind one of the
best types of hunter I have seen, though perhaps a
trifle big about the head ; but full of knowledge and
II
JOHN WHIDBORNE 189
a first-rate horse over banks and timber, and you
could not tire him out. I had him after he turned
roarer from a bad attack of influenza, but his owner
would not sell him. He appears on the left in the
photograph of Mr. Whidborne's hounds. Silvertail
was another of Miss Whidborne's good horses, and
the bay Talisman was one of the best she had.
Paddy was an extraordinarily hard little horse. He
suffered from corns and had a quick pottering action
on the road. Then there was Taffy, somewhat coarse,
but of the everlasting kind. I am treating only of the
hunters Miss Whidborne had at this time, but
cannot refrain from just mentioning a very cele-
brated grey mare she rode in earlier years called
Alice Grey. Some of the horses named were reserved
for Miss Whidborne's own riding, but others took
their turn in carrying the huntsman, who was always
well mounted. Among other horses he had were the
chestnuts Sunbeam and Ginger ; the greys Swallow,
Rattler and Zouave (the latter split his pastern
trotting down a lane) ; the brown mare Polly ; The
Knight, a bay ; the rat-tailed Baron, a good hunter
of uncertain temper ; and a horse whose proper
name I forget, but which the stablemen always
called Chany-eye from his having a so-called " china "
or " wall eye." There were also others that I forget.
The whip first appointed to the pack was one Doyle,
grandson to the master's old coachman and stud-
groom, William Paul. His heart, however, was not
in the work and he was relegated to the position of
second horseman to the huntsman. This he filled
admirably, having a good eye for a country. Doyle
was succeeded by a whip who, if I remember rightly,
was called Edwards and came from the Llangibby
and Chepstow, but his health was not good and he
190 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
could not stand the long days. Then William Derges,
who, as mentioned, had whipped in to Westlake,
was taken on.
The William Paul mentioned above was a valuable
servant to Mr. Whidborne, being a good man on or
about a horse and not afraid of work. He had some
bad falls with young horses, having once been as near
breaking his neck as is possible without being killed.
He lay in bed for many weeks afterwards and his
head was never again straight, but he completely
recovered and years afterwards, when over seventy,
broke his thigh through a horse coming back on him.
He was also one of the old breed of coachmen who
could hit a horse from the box in the proper place
and with the proper effect. These hard-hitters of the
old school did not indulge in the perpetual slashing-
all-over of modern drivers ; they seldom hit a horse,
but when they did they hit him once and to some
purpose.
Mr. Whidborne was over sixty years of age when he
undertook this, his second, mastership. He applied
himself to the duties of the position with all the
ability and all the thoroughness that had character-
ized him in his business. Besides being excellently
mounted, the men were well turned out, and no
necessary expense was spared, though there was no
ostentation or " swagger " about the establishment.
Mr. Whidborne was very generous in mounting his
friends, as my eldest brother and I have reason to
remember. He was also very hospitable, and a
" mount " usually involved breakfast and often
dinner at Brookside. His breakfast hour was eight
o'clock and, as he had strict views on the subject of
punctuality, one had to be early astir to hack out the
five miles and not be late. Sometimes he would tell
JOHN WHIDBORNE 191
you to take care of the horse he mounted you on ;
at others, his orders were to "ride that horse's tail
off," which was only his pleasant way of telling you
to ride as hard as you pleased. If one was riding his
own horse and not dining at Brookside, there was
always gruel for the hunter and something, usually
sherry and biscuits, for the rider at any hour. Whid-
borne belonged to the sherry age and had some
excellent wine, and his sherry-glasses would have
satisfied some claret drinkers. Little time was spent
in refreshment on those occasions, as one was gener-
ally riding home with hounds. The scene in the yard
was a busy one : men with lanterns leading off tired
hunters or bringing out fresh horses for huntsman and
whip, who swallowed saucers of hot tea where they
stood ready on their mounting-blocks, with the pack
around them. Perhaps I dwell unduly upon these
details : if so, my excuse must be that it is difficult
to pass over in silence scenes that live in the memory
and circumstances small in themselves, but which led
to the establishment of a custom, persevered in for
eight-and-twenty years, of never passing Brookside
after hunting on that side of the country without
availing oneself of the welcome that was ever ready ;
a custom that ceased only on the death of Miss
Whidborne, that good sportswoman and kindest of
friends, who had taken up her residence permanently
at Brookside after the death of her father in 1890.
In Whidborne's last season, 1884-5, the pack
resumed the name of " The South Devon " under the
following circumstances : —
The first Lord Haldon having died in 1883, his
eldest son, on succeeding to the title, expressed a
desire to take on the pack then hunting the Haldon
side. Accordingly Mr. Studd resigned in his favour
192 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
in 1884, and, as the pack was then to be called " Lord
Haldon's Hounds, "^ Mr. Whidborne was at liberty to
resume the title of " South Devon."
Towards the end of Whidborne's term of office, he
having made it clear that he would not continue after
the close of the season 1884-5, the committee applied
to Lord Haldon to know whether he was prepared,
in accordance with the arrangement referred to in
an earlier chapter,^ to take over the southern portion
of the country. On his stating that he could not under-
take more than a part of it, the committee decided
to advertise for a master, as a result of which
advertisement negotiations were entered into with
Mr. C. Marshall of Swymbridge, in North Devon.
Before these negotiations matured, however. Dr.
H. S. Gaye of Newton Abbot came forward with an
offer to take over the country, which was immediately
accepted.
1 See p. 152. ^ See p. 127.
DR. H. S. GAYB
To fa:c page 193
CHAPTER XVII
DR. HENRY SEARLE GAYE : 1885-93
Prosperous state of the cotmtry — A successful reign — Major-General Gaye —
Brigade-Surgeon A. C. Gaye : well known as a gentleman rider — Terms
of mastership — Mr. Whidbome presents his pack to the committee —
Kennels at North End, Ipplepen — New kennels built at Pulsford Hills,
Denbury — Part of the moor country claimed by Bragg — Claim renewed
by Mr, Norton and Mr. Thomas — Arbitrated upon in 1890 — New regula-
tions : the " receipt " button ; capping — Hunt uniform — Mr. A. S.
Rendell retires from the secretaryship — Succeeded by Mr. H. S. Wright,
who subsequently resigns — Jack Whitmore leaves — Replaced by James
Collings — Prejudice against a harrier huntsman overcome — A presentation
to Collings — His personality : in the field ; in the kennel — Master and
man combine to raise the fortunes of the hunt — Dr. Gaye as master — An
tmfortunate accident — Good sport — Mr. D. Scratton and his keeper.
Bishop — Mr. W. Rendell : his descriptive account of three notable runs —
Dr. Gaye resumes possession of the Haldon side vacated by Mr. Studd —
His resignation — His popularity recognized by a diimer and presentation
— A gracefiil act.
" Old friends long gone again appear,
Their welcome voice we seem to hear ;
And shadows from the wall depart,
As early sunshine warms the heart."
(Dartmoor Days.)
THE fortunes of the hunt on the Newton side,
which had sunk to a low ebb during the second
mastership of Mr. Ross, received a fresh impulse
under the guidance of Mr. Whidborne, who did the
thing efficiently and well and pulled the hunt together,
so that when Dr. Gaye succeeded, he had the advan-
tage of the previous three seasons' nursing and
careful working up of the country. The Doctor made
the most of this advantage, and with an improved
organization the hunt was put upon a better and
o 193
194 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
more businesslike footing than it had ever occupied
since the pack became a subscription one. New
kennels were built, the committee was strengthened,
a sub-committee was appointed to look after minor
details, and a proper damage fund was estab-
lished.
The master was a thorough sportsman and very
popular, and the sport he shewed was consistently-
good and often brilliant. As a result, the fields
increased in number and the subscription list in
amount. The Doctor's mastership was an unqualified
success.
Dr. Gaye was one of three brothers, all of whom
distinguished themselves in their respective careers.
The eldest was Major-General Gaye, who lived at
Tor Newton, and with his daughter. Miss Gaye,
hunted regularly with the pack. The youngest was
Brigade- Surgeon A. C. Gaye, who, under the racing
name of " Mr. Herbert," was for more than twenty
years one of the best known and most successful
gentlemen-riders in India, where he won many good
races both on the flat and across country and per-
formed some remarkable feats of endurance in the
saddle, covering great distances to enable him to
indulge his passion for race riding.^
Dr. Gaye himself had for many years been in active
practice as a medical man at Newton Abbot and was
well known in the district. He was one of the oldest
members of the South Devon Hunt and was well past
middle age when he took on the hounds.
The terms agreed upon between the new master
and the committee were : a guaranteed subscription
of £450 and the committee to pay all gratuities to
^ An interesting account of his racing career appeared on the 6th August,
1887, in the Civil and Military Gazette published at Lahore.
DR. HENRY SEARLE GAYE 195
keepers and earth-stoppers, as well as all claims for
poultry and other damage.
Mr. Whidborne, in addition to giving a handsome
subscription, lent his bitch pack to the committee,
and at the end of the season 1887-8 the loan was
converted into a gift upon certain conditions which
were accepted. The pack was kennelled at North
End, Ipplepen, for the first three seasons, but at the
end of his second season Gaye impressed upon the
committee the desirability of having kennels of its
own or, at any rate, held for a substantial length of
term. Accordingly, in the early part of 1888, certain
sites were inspected, and that of the now existing
kennels at Pulsford Hills, Denbury, was selected. A
lease for twenty-one years was secured, and the
buildings which stood on the land were altered and
converted into kennels, stables and a huntsman's
cottage at an original estimated cost of £190, the
figure being considerably lower than it would other-
wise have been through the sportsmanlike action of
Messrs. John Wright and Son of Newton Abbot, who
undertook to do all the carting of materials free of
cost. There was considerable delay on the part of the
contractor ; certain work had to be done over again
owing to bad workmanship, and, in addition, there
were the inevitable extras. The cost was defrayed
out of a special " whip-up " among the subscribers.
The lease of these kennels has been renewed, and they
are still occupied by the hunt.
At the very outset of his career as master, Gaye
was troubled by a claim to a portion of the moor
country set up by Mr. George Bragg of Moreton-
hampstead. The claim was maintained by Mr.
Norton of Chagford, who succeeded to the master-
ship of Mr. Bragg's pack, and by Mr. Norton's
196 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
successor, Mr. S. V. Thomas. This caused a good
deal of trouble at the time, but was ultimately, in
1890, settled by the arbitrament of the M. F. H.
Association. An outline of the controversy is given
in a separate chapter. ^
In the year 1888 the minimum subscription for
members was fixed at £3 3s. and a regulation was
introduced, which had been proposed the previous
year but then rejected, that every member of the
hunt whose subscription was paid should receive a
stud or button, to be worn in the hunting-field to
distinguish him there as a member of the hunt and to
exempt him from capping, which practice the com-
mittee had been compelled to adopt. A galloping fox
was first proposed for the design of this button, but
ultimately a fox's mask was adopted. The idea,
however, of the " receipt " button never found
favour, and the wearing of the button very soon fell
into disuse.
About this time a new coat button was also insti-
tuted. It consisted of a convex brass button with a
raised monogram formed of the letters S.D.F.H. It
was also decided to adopt a distinctive collar to be
worn with the pink coat, and, after some discussion,
a buff collar was agreed upon. The buff collar endures
to this day, though it has not been adopted by all
members. An evening-dress uniform, consisting of a
scarlet coat and white waistcoat, was also assumed.
In the year 1888 Mr. A. S. Rendell, to the regret of
all, withdrew from the position of joint honorary
secretary after six years' service, owing to pressure
of business, but he has never ceased to take an active
interest in the affairs of the hunt, in which he has
been most helpful. He was succeeded by Mr. H. S.
1 See chapter XVIII.
DR. HENRY SEARLE GAYE 197
Wright, who joined Mr. Hext, the continuing-
honorary secretary. Mr. Wright, in consequence
of other calls on his time, only held the office until
1889, tendering his resignation in August of that
year, leaving Mr. Hext to carry on the duties single-
handed.
Mr. Whidborne's former huntsman, Jack Whit-
more, was taken on and hunted the pack for the
Doctor's first season. At the end of it the master's
patience was exhausted and he left. Gaye was
at some loss to replace him, but ultimately
his eye fell upon James Collings, then in his
twelfth season as huntsman to the South Pool
Harriers, of which Captain Hallifax was master. I
believe Mr. Parnell Tucker of Ashburton was chiefly
instrumental in directing the master's attention to
Collings. Captain Hallifax readily consented to
Dr. Gaye's approaching Collings, saying that, although
he could not replace him, he would not stand in the
way of any man's promotion from harriers to fox-
hounds.
The Doctor, like most foxhunters, was prejudiced
against a harrier huntsman for foxhounds, ^ but what
he saw and heard of Collings convinced him that the
man was above the average and that he had not only
the necessary qualifications but also the sense and
ability to adapt himself and his methods to hunting
the fox. Collings was accordingly engaged, and the
result amply justified his selection.
On his leaving the South Pool Harriers, he was
presented, in June, 1886, with a testimonial consist-
ing of a purse of £31 and a silver horn. The presenta-
* It is perhaps not generally known that Frank Gillard, the celebrated
Belvoir huntsman and a Devonshire man, began his career as huntsman to a
pack of harriers in North Devon.
198 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
tion was made on behalf of the South Pool by Mr.
Augustus Kingston of Totnes, a well-known member
of both hunts.
CoUings was then about thirty-five years of age. In
the hunting field he was reserved in manner, short
and even brusque with strangers or those he did not
know well. He made up his mind what to do, and
did it, regardless of information that he could not
trust and advice that he did not want. In this way
he gradually ceased to be troubled with the well-
intentioned " assistance " of members of the field.
Often have I heard the remark from farmers and
others : " What a man he is, to be sure ! " when
Collings, receiving a communication in silence, pro-
ceeded to act as if it had not been made. But these
very people learnt to appreciate the determination
that characterized the man and his reliance upon his
hounds and upon his own judgment. His whole
heart was in the sport, and his mind, concentrated
on the work in hand, would not brook distraction.
A few, a very few, whose knowledge of hunting and
of individual hounds he could rely upon, would be
listened to ; even then, if he had a move in his own
mind, he would often make it before acting on the
information received.
But when off duty, or when once well away with his
fox, he would be as cheery as a schoolboy. He had a
dry humour of his own and a keen appreciation of
humour in others. Once, he took us off to a holloa
on the top of a distant hill, where we found a small
boy in a newly-sown field. To the two questions :
" Did you holloa ? " and " Have you seen the fox ? "
came in succession the answers : " Yes," and " No."
Collings said not another word, but turned back in
the face of the grinning field, and his sense of
DR. HENRY SEARLE GAYE 199
humour certainly came to his assistance on that
occasion.
I think it will be admitted that Collings turned out
to be one of the best Devonshire huntsmen known in
modern times. He was never at a loss, and you never
saw him hesitate. Everything was done with system
and regularity ; he never went over the same ground
twice, either in drawing or in casting ; and he never
deceived his hounds. He would give them plenty of
time before making his cast. I have seen him more
than once, with a catchy scent, link up, as it were, by
a series of good casts, a succession of bursts into quite
a tolerable run. At other times, he would sit still and
never touch the pack, knowing he could not help
them. One of such occasions was in the course of a
run which took us through the small enclosures close
to Ashburton. Collings said to me : " This is a funny
fox : you never know, when he goes into a field,
where he is going to leave it. I daren't touch them."
The fox was dawdling some way in front of the hounds,
aware, apparently, that scent was too bad for them to
overhaul him.
Now and again, but very seldom, he would make
a back cast that people attributed to his harrier
novitiate. I think it was oftener due to other causes,
as in one particular instance that recurs to me at the
moment. The hounds had just reached the moor and
checked there, those of the field who were up being in
an adjoining enclosure immediately below the pack
and separated from it by the boundary wall. As
Collings came up, the hounds, in casting, swung
themselves down the hill and broke the wall into the
field where we were, and he first held them on in that
direction, which was " back." Everyone thought
that the fox, as was the fact, had gone to moor ; and
200 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
so did CoUings, as I learnt afterwards. He then
accounted for the curious turn of the hounds by the
fact of their having heard us on the other side of the
wall, and so turned towards the horses ; but it
deceived him for the moment and led him to think
the fox might have turned short back.
There are moments, too, when every huntsman, on
the principle of " the other Tom Smith's " celebrated
all-round-my-hat cast, will make a -eery short back-
ward cast first with the sole object of making a wider
one for'ard than he would otherwise dare to do. Some
people cannot distinguish between such cases and the
instinctive try-back of the hare-hunter.
CoUings's patience was equalled by his persever-
ance, and the keynote of the whole was his innate love
of hunting. He would never leave off as long as there
was a chance of hunting up to his fox; he was
always trying, and never resorted to the proceeding
of " working out the day."
He was also an extraordinarily hard man. ^Mien
the first bad outbreak of influenza occurred — I think
it was in or about the year 1891, when so many
prominent people, including the Duke of Clarence,
were carried off — several hunts which had no under-
study to their huntsman, and some that had, were
compelled to stop hunting tlu-ough the staff being
laid low. Collings got it, and a pretty bad attack ;
but he did not miss a single day's hunting. On
another occasion, with a cold so bad that he could not
speak above a whisper, he insisted on coming out, and
the field grumbled because " Collings was so beastly
quiet " ! Yet another time, he hunted hounds with a
broken collar-bone and his arm in a sling.
His hound language was good, and he had a capital
voice and a good note on the horn. You could
COLLING 5
a?.5:nger and stripling
To fact fape 200
DR. HEXRY SE.AHLE GAYE 201
always tell by his horn exactly what hounds were
doing.
A lisht weight, he was a fearless rider and a crood
horseman. But he never rode for effect : his only
idea bein^ to cret to his hounds. K he could not ride
over a place., he would dismount, and, as we term it,
turn liis horse over it, a feat requiring considerable
agihty when a man is alone, as a huntsman so often
is. Fearsome., indeed, were some of the places he got
over in this way, and one or two of the horses he rode,
Old Port and Triangle for example, were extra-
ordinarily clever at this work. He was veiy* good on
bogg}' ground, going, and keeping above ground,
where no one else cared to follow, and remarkably
quick in getting about. In this, his promptness of
decision and his knowledge of the country helped
him enormously.
That he was as good in the kennel as in the field
was abundantly proved by the stamp of hounds
composing the pack, steady hunters with plenty of
drive, and by the condition which enabled them to
stand such long days as they had, and to come again
as frequently as they did. For, even when hunting
three days a week with a very frequent bye day in
addition, as Gaye did later on, he never had more
than thirty-seven and a half couple in kennel includ-
ing the voun? entrv.
With such a huntsman, who was also absolutely
steady and trustworthy, the master's lot was a much
happier one than it had been during his first season :
and, though Dr. Gaye superintended all details of
the kennel establishment and of the hunt in general,
and by his abihty and popularity prepared the way
for the actual operations in the field, yet it is only
fair to say that to his huntsman was due, in a very
202 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
large measure, the high standard of excellence of the
sport that marked his reign. Thus the credit for
raising the fortunes of the hunt may be said to have
been shared by master and man, for not alone could
either the genial personality of the master or the
sport shewn by the huntsman have effected the im-
provement in the status of the hunt that together
they brought about.
Although master in the field in fact as well as in
name, Gaye had a happy way with him that made
everyone anxious to do as he wished. Now and then
he would have occasion to administer a severe
reprimand to his field or to some individual, but he
had a way of doing even that, and his language never
exceeded a few accepted expletives. Sometimes the
offender, catching the unconcerned expression of only
one of the Doctor's eyes, a glass one, would be taken
quite by surprise. His anger was not easily roused,
and was quickly appeased. Yet he could be very
angry, and he once emphasized his remarks with his
hunting crop on the shoulders of the culprit he was
rebuking. This reminds me that I had the misfortune
accidentally to knock out the Doctor's last front
tooth with my hunting crop, a heavy cherry-wood
thing. The pack was baying at an earth in thick
undergrowth and the master had just pulled out the
terrier, covered with red earth, which the hounds
mistook for the fox. Rating and laying about me
with my cherry-wood, I saw the Doctor suddenly
drop the terrier and turn away with his hand to his
face, and, when the din subsided, he told me what
had happened. The dear old man was not at all
angry, though the blow evidently gave him much
pain. He only asked me to say nothing about it
and then, taking off his hunting cap, gave me a cigar
DR. HENRY SEARLE GAYE 203
from the reserve he always carried in its lining. He
was a tremendous smoker.
The following extract from a letter that Mr. Arthur
Rendell wrote to me in February, 1887, when I was
away in London, is an index of the sport at this time.
He ^vrites : " We have been having clipping sport of late.
" On the 29th January : Raced into a fox in eight
minutes in the Dartmoor country, earthed another
and wound up with a run of an hoiu* and a half and
called off in the dark.
" On the 1st February : Found a fox on Hamildon
Down : thirty-five minutes, earthed and killed.
Finished up with three-quarters of an hour in
Buckland.
" On Saturday last : One hour and ten minutes
without a check and killed. Fifty-five minutes with
another, racing pace without a check, when we
changed foxes just as we were running into our
hunted one. This was the best thing of the season.
Washington Singer, on Cora, done to a turn, and
many others pumped ; spills by the dozen, and J. J.
Cross on Mr. Whidborne's Swallow came a nice turn
over a fence into a ditch full of Ogwell clay and
water. Out of a field of eighty, only about fifteen at
the finish. I mustn't tell you any more of the good
things or you'll get discontented with your lot. . . ."
The said Swallow was a grey mare that could jump
well enough. Sometimes, however, like Mrs. Dombey,
she refused to make an eitoit.
So consistently good was the sport under this
master that it would be impossible to pick out the
best for special mention. In particular, the sport in
the in-country was extraordinarily good. For this
thanks were due in a large measure to Mr. Daniel
Scratton of Ogwell, some time master of one of the
204 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
Essex packs, but who had long since given up hunting
himself. He and his keeper, Bishop, proved that the
fox and pheasant problem was capable of solution, for
never were coverts better stocked with both than those
at Ogwell, and a day in the Denbury country in those
days invariably resulted in a good day's sport.
But if a detailed review of the many good runs that
took place in the Doctor's eight years of mastership
is not practicable, there are three, of which Mr.
" Willie " Rendell has sent me particulars, which
deserve a place here, and I should preface his account
with the remark that Mr. Rendell was officially
connected with the hunt for nineteen seasons, during
thirteen of which he was honorary secretary to the
Damage Fund and during the other six of which he
hunted the pack under Mr. Singer's mastership. At
the time of which he writes, he was living near the
kennels, and, being a frequent visitor, knew every
hound. He was also one of Collings's " trusted few."
Hunting men are rather given to picking and
choosing popular fixtures instead of taking the days
as they come when able to do so. This is a mistake,
if only on the principle that decided a certain old
gentleman of my acquaintance, and somewhat of a
hon vivanU to dine in the middle of the day " because,
sir, life is so uncertain." All three of the runs
referred to were from the huge hanging woodlands of
Buckland, on the banks of the Dart, the fixture being
in every case Welstor Cross. All three runs ended
with blood, and Mr. Rendell has the brush of one of
the foxes, the mask of another and a pad of the third.
" I. 1888, December llth. — Collings had his fox afoot under
Ausewell Rock within ten minutes of throwing off. After
taking a turn over the rock and the deep heather that sur-
rounds it, the fox sank the Buckland Woods almost to the
DR. HENRY SEARLE GAYE 205
road at Holne Bridge, where he was headed (or changed his
mind) and, turning, again passed Ausewell Cottage and the
lieather where he was found, and broke across the Ash-
burton — Chagford road, the pack chiming merrily through the
deep woodland of Borough Wood and up the Pensland Valley
almost to Cold East Cross, just short of which he crossed the
Woodland — Widdicombe road into Halshanger Mire. Here,
on the open moor, the pace improved, and the pack drove
along by the wall, pointing for Rippon Tor, but broke left-
handed close to the Logan Rock, crossed the Chagford road,
and ran through Newhouse Mire to Bonehill Rocks and
Chinkwell Tor. Then, dropping down the Widdicombe
Valley to Stone Gorse, the hounds regained the open moor on
Hamildown, the horses being put to it to live with them, and
crossed Wood Pitt and the deep gullies between that and
Heathercombe Brake. Here the work was cut out by
Platoff (a Haldon Samson dog) and little Heroine (the
smallest hound in the pack) from the Old Berks. Platoff was
a coarse dog about the neck and shoulders, and old Collings
shouted to me as we galloped along together (there was no
one else within hail) to ' look at little Heroine and that great
lumbering brute ! '
" The pack raced along outside Heathercombe and on past
Coombe Farm to Lower Hookner Farm and Shapley Farm,
and killed in the garden of Puddavin Cottage, close to
Beetor Cross and nearly at Moor Gate. The hounds made a
great mess of the cottager's cabbages, but the delighted
master compensated him so handsomely as to make him
wish for another visit.
" From Holne Bridge to Beetor Cross is 8| miles by a
rule on the map. As hounds ran, I should say it was quite
fourteen. Time one hour and forty-five minutes. Hounds
had practically no assistance from find to finish.
" II. The second of these runs took place a month later,
early in January, 1889. Found in Buckland Wood and took
a turn in cover ; then away over the open moor by Buckland
Beacon to Newhouse Mire, Rippon Tor and through Bagtor
Mire. Here the fog is very bad and we miss the pack. I
remark : ' I think I hear them on our left.' Collings thinks
206 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
they have turned right, down the bog to Bagtor Wood, and
is worried. He shouts to me : ' Damme ! thinking won't do.
Master WilHe, are you sure ? ' At that moment, a tail hound,
old Raglan (by Belvoir Dashwood — Their Ruin), comes along
and confirms my statement that hounds are left-handed, and
away we sail again (only the two of us there) to Heytor Rock,
past ' No. 1 ' quarry, and along the whole length of Heytor
Down to Yarner. We go through Yarner Wood at a hand
gallop, then on to Pullabrook, over the Bovey river to Ridge
Wood, across the Lustleigh railway and kill our fox on the
top of Knowle Hill, on the Chudleigh side of Lustleigh village.
One curious feature of the run was the pace at which hounds
pushed their fox through Yarner Wood, and another was that
in the last fence, where they caught the fox, the poor brute
put his foot in a trap, and I was nearly kicked in the head by
a frightened horse in consequence. As I threw the gin over the
hedge and jumped quickly after it, the horse smelt the fox
and let fly, and I saw his shoes flash in front of my face. The
point was said at the time to be nine miles. I forgot the time,
but believe it was very little over the hour.
" III. The thu-d run took place on the 6th March, 1889, in
the afternoon. The pack had killed a fox in the morning
without much sport and with no scent.
" The run started from Lizwell Wood, which forms the
extreme northern end of the chain of woodlands around
Buckland and belonged then to the Misses Carew ; it is now
the property of Colonel W. E. T. Bolitho. The fox — a vixen
— was found in the clitter above Webburn Meet ' under the
old holly bush,' where Bill French, the Spitchwick keeper,
said they would find. The pack settled to the line, recrossed
the river Webburn to Buckland and checked just under
Buckland Court. Collings persevered, and recovered the
line, and again the pack recrossed the valley and river to
Lizwell Wood. Old Dr. Gaye and I watched them from the
Buckland side, and decided not to follow, as scent seemed
still very poor. But when I saw the hounds freshen up and
cross the West Webburn to Black Tor and run through
Leusden churchyard, on the opposite side of the valley, I
wished the Doctor good-bye and went helter-skelter down to
DR. HENRY SEARLE GAYE 207
and across the river and up the other side to Leusden School.
There I heard that hounds had gone over Corndon Tor,
pointing for Dartmeet, with Mr. Fearnley Tanner, ' Sol '
Tozer and Collings in attendance. They turned right-
handed on Corndon Tor and came down by Corndonford
Farm and on past Lower Cator to Blackaton Manor (where
I caught sight of them after bucketing on the road from
Leusden School to Pondsworthy and Corndon Farm, gallop-
ing inside the circle), through Blackaton Newtake to Hamil-
down Beacon, across Coal Mires and along the side of
Hamildown above Bag Park, where Sol Tozer's horse, old
Greybird, rolled over with him, quite pumped. We had not
hunted for a fortnight on account of snow on the ground.
I had kept my horse, Badger, in wind by a gallop twice a
week in a foot of snow, and he was as fit as a fiddle. When
we came to the big wall on the top of Blackaton Newtake, we
found it buried in snow with the exception of about a foot at
the top. I led my horse over, and we both got the right side
at the expense of a roll. The pack ran on to Wood Pitts and
Natsworthy Gate, where I caught Collings, and thence across
Heytree Down to Hayne Down and sank the valley by Hound
Tor Farm to Leighon Gate, and the fox ran the road to old
Tom Winser's at Beckaford, where hounds checked for the
first time since leaving covert. Collings fumbled with his
horn as if about to handle hounds, and then, in a sort of
aside partly to himself and partly to me, muttered : ' Damme !
Master Willie. I don't know where he has gone — ^I'll leave
'em alone ! ' As he said the words, the pack hit off the line
out of the road, carried it over the fence right-handed above
Leighon House and along over Smallacombe Rocks, where
they were at fault again. Collings asked me to push on and
keep an eye for'ard, and, luckily, I was in time to see Prior (by
the Belvoir Proctor — Their Gossip) pick up the line towards
Holwell Tor. A holloa to Collings, and the pack was racing on,
hackles up, to Holwell Tor, where we heard the hounds baying
round a corner of the tor. I jumped off to run (the ground,
as you know, is not choice !).^ ' Damme ! ' said Collings,
' I shall ride all the way,' and he tried to, but his horse, old
^ The ground around the tor is thickly strewn with granite rocks.
208 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
C.B., alias Triangle, came down and stepped on Collings'
foot. Meanwhile, I had slipped in to the hounds and found
they had killed, and not run to ground as we thought. We
picked up the mask, brush and one pad. It was then 4.55,
and we had found at 3.30. Old Derges turned up, carry-
ing Teaze the terrier ; and later on Sol Tozer arrived and
had the mask. I still have the brush, a wretched mean
looking one. It was a little vixen, barren of course.
" I always say that, from my point of view, considering
the bad start I had, etc., it was the most satisfactory run I
ever rode. But I do not rank it as quite in the same class as
my Eastdon Tor — Batworthy run."^
Towards the end of the season 1890-1 Dr. Gaye
formally tendered his resignation, but eventually
withdrew it on the understanding the subscription
should be raised from £450 to £600.
In the month of May, 1891, Mr. Studd, who had
been hunting the Haldon side of the country — his
pack was then known as the " South Devon (Exeter
Division) " — definitely retired. ^ Meetings were held
in Exeter, at one of which the chairman, Mr. J. H.
Ley of Trehill, explained that, under the arrangements
entered into when the country was first divided, it
was open to Dr. Gaye, if he chose to do so, to claim
the Haldon side of the country vacated by Mr. Studd.
Dr. Gaye then formally announced his intention of
hunting the reunited country five days a fortnight,
giving one day a week at least to the Haldon side,
provided a subscription from that side of £300
a year was forthcoming. If the subscription should
not reach that figure, he would hunt the Haldon
side as and when he could, according to the amount
actually subscribed.
As a matter of fact, Gaye proceeded to hunt the
1 In Mr. Singer's mastership. See p. 256. ^ See p. 172.
DR. HENRY SEARLE GAYE 209
whole country three and four days a week during
the next two seasons, and was as successful on the
Haldon side as on the Newton side. The addition of
the Haldon side was, however, from its character as
well as from its distance from kennel, a severe tax
upon men, hounds and horses, and, moreover, it was
found impossible to meet even the modest demands of
the master in the way of subscriptions. Having once
reunited the country, the Doctor was not disposed
to relinquish a part of it, which he considered would
not be fair or to the interests of the hunt. Accord-
ingly, at the end of the season 1892-3, he definitely
resigned, and the hunt set about finding another
master.
So great was the popularity of the retiring master,
and such had been the sport shewn, that the members
readily came forward with a handsome subscription
towards a presentation to him, which took the form
of a pair of guns by Holland & Holland bearing the
inscription : " Presented to H. S. Gaye, Esqre., by the
members of the Hunt on his retirement from the
Mastership of the South Devon Hunt in 1893."
The presentation was made at a dinner given to the
retiring master, and it is typical of the man, that,
in returning thanks, he attributed much of the credit
for the success of the hunt to the excellent services of
its honorary secretary, Mr. G. H. Hext, and then,
leaving his place, went round the table and handed
" on his own " to Mr. Hext a handsome silver cup
as a mark of his appreciation of the assistance he had
always received from him.
CHAPTER XVIII
TERRITORIAL DIFFERENXES AND AN ARBITRATION
An arbitration by the M. F. H. Association : the South Devon and Mr.
Thomas's (Mid-Devon) — Complaint by Mr. Ross of Mr. Bragg's Harriers —
'Mr. Feamley Tanner — Protests from successive masters — An intolerable
situation — Ill-feeling between the two hunts — An unacceptable offer from
Mr. Bragg — The question referred to the M. F. H. Association — Require-
ments of hunting law to the acquisition of new country — Grounds of claim
against the South Devon — The South Devon answer — Value of licence from
the Duchy of Cornwall — Evidence in support of South Devon case —
Text of the Award : the country hunted by Mr. Thomas solely South
Devon country — Grounds of decision — The Award accepted in a sports-
manlike spirit — Temporary arrangements for loan of country to Mr.
Thomas — The arrangements consolidated — Text of resolution forming
agreement — Cordial relations established between the two hunts — Credit
due to Dr. Gaye, Mr. Hext, Mr. A. Rendell and Mr. Lewis Rendell —
Mr. Lewis Rendell's work — Made an honorary life member of the hunt —
A presentation.
" And evermore they'll tell with praise
Of forest meets and Dartmoor days."
{Dartmoor Days.)
IN the summer of 1890, a case was laid before the
Masters of Foxhounds Association for the arbitra-
tion of that body in reference to a question of right
to country that had arisen bet'ween the South Devon
Hunt and its neiglibour on the north now known as
the Mid-Devon Hunt, the master of which was at
that time Mr. Salusbury Thomas.
Inasmuch as fully a quarter of a century has
passed since the decision of the M. F. H. Association
— the highest Court in these matters — was pro-
nounced, it is not proposed to go into the subject in
detail or at any length, but, as a matter of history,
TERRITORIAL DIFFERENCES 211
it is proper that both the circumstances that led up
to the arbitration and the facts proved at the time
should be briefly mentioned.
As far back as the time of the first mastership of
Mr. Ross, that gentleman had occasion to complain
of his foxes being hunted in the moor portion of the
country by a pack of harriers kept at Moretonhamp-
stead by Mr. George Bragg, and letters from both
masters appeared at the time in the sporting papers.
Mr. Ross's successor, Mr. Fearnley Tanner, took
the matter up vrith some energy*, and the information
which he obtained at the time from previous masters of
the South Devon and others was very useful at the
arbitration that eventually followed.
After the establishment of a separate pack to hunt
the Haldon side, the South Devon found itself able
to make more use of its moor country. Bragg, how-
ever, continued to hunt over a considerable part of it,
with the result that protest succeeded protest from
successive masters, Ross, ^^^lidborne and Gave in
turn asserting their claim to the country which was
the field of Bragg's operations. The situation at last
grew intolerable ; the South Devon, hunting on a
Tuesday, would find itself dra^Ning country which had
been disturbed on the previous day by Bragg, whose
hunting day was Monday. Newspaper correspond-
ence followed and feeling became acute between the
supporters of the rival claimants.
This ill-feeling in Whidborne's time made itself
felt, as I remember, twice in the same day. The
South Devon hounds had come to slow hunting in
Lustleigh Cleave with a beaten fox just before them.
The fox crossed in front of ^liss Whidborne, Dr.
CoUyns (Mr. Bragg's honorary secretary who was out)
and myself, and Miss AVhidborne implored of me to
212 THE SOLTH DEVON HUNT
holloa. It happened that my mouth was full of plum
cake, which could not be disposed of for some
moments without a sacrifice of economy, so I appealed
to Dr. Collyns who, rightly enough, no doubt, from
his point of ^new, resolutely refused to help in the
killing of what he considered to be one of Mr. Bragg's
foxes. We did kill soon after, almost at the feet of
Mrs. Splatt who was walking alone in the Cleave, and
who, I remember, had taken advantage of the
sohtiide of the spot to let down her hair, which was
ver\' beautiful and reached almost to the ground. On
^Mlitmo^e"s expressing a pohte wish that she had been
on horseback vsith us, Mrs. Splatt drew herself up with
the majestic air she was wont to assume when playing
Lady Macbeth and answered with crushing emphasis :
" / lumt with Mr. Bragg's hounds in this country."
Meanwhile Bragg was deaf to all remonstrance and
no doubt beheved himself to be the aggrieved party.
He did. indeed, during Gaye's mastership offer to
draw a hne of definition : but it was to endure only
while the Doctor remained in office, and the boundarv'
suggested would have deprived the South Devon of
much of the best of the moor which it claimed as of
right. Anxious as were the members of the com-
mittee to effect an amicable settlement, they were
therefore unable to accept the terms offered. Eventu-
ally, in the year 1890. as stated, the dispute was
referred by consent to the M. F. H. Association.
It may here not be out of place to point out the
law on the subject of acquiring a title to a new
country. By the imwxitten law of foxhunting, a
hunt can acquire a right to a particular country* only
by hunting it for twenty seasons consecutively
without interference or break, and without making
anv admission that it is held on loan from some other
TERRITORIAL DIFFERENXES 213
hunt. If the hunt claiming to have acquired a
particular bit of countr\* has omitted during the
period of acquisition to hunt it for a single season, or
has hunted it otherwise than with foxhounds pur et
simple (by which is meant hounds hunting fox and
fox only), or has made an admission that it is hunted
on loan from another hunt, the claimant cannot make
a good title, and the prescribed period of twenty years
has to begin again from the date of such omission,
irregular huntins. or admission.
The claim set up on behalf of the pack formerly
hunted by Mr. Bragg, now known as the >Iid-Devon.
appears to have rested on the following allegations :
that the disputed region had been hunted continu-
ouslv bv Bragg with his own hounds since 1865 ;
that previous to that year it had been hunted for a
great number of years by packs other than the South
Devon ; that neither Haworth, Lane nor ^Vhidbome
(in his first mastership) ever made a fixture further
moorwards than Reddaford Water and Yamer ;
that the leave of the landowners had been obtained :
that Bragg in the past had held, and his successor at
that time held, a Ucence from the Duchy of Cornwall
to hunt foxes within its territory, and that the
country in dispute never was South Devon country-.
The answer of the South Devon was to the effect
that at the time Bragg first set up his claim, and from
then right down to the year ISSO, his hoiuids were
harriers, and, as such, had no status and were
incapable of acquiring a countr\' as foxhounds ; that
the South Devon had regularly hunted over the
disputed area since 1865 and also long before that
date : that any other packs hunting it had done so
with the permission of the South Devon Hunt : that the
leave of landowners or hcence from the Duchv could
214 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
not affect the question of title, and that the country
was, and always had been. South Devon country.
It is rather curious that Mr. Thomas and his com-
mittee appear to have placed great reliance on the
Duchy licence. For, in truth, such a licence could
have no bearing whatever on the case. Undoubtedly
a licence from the Duchy, like permission from a
private owner of property, is of great and vital
importance to a hunt in the exercise of its rights
according to hunting law, but neither licence nor
permission can affect or abridge those rights in them-
selves. Well-known instances are recorded where a
master of hounds has had to ask leave of another
hiuit to draw his own coverts with his own hounds,
by reason of such coverts forming part of the country
belonging, in a hunting sense, to the other hunt. This
being so, it is rather remarkable that any importance
should have been attached to the existence of the
Duchy licence as affecting the question of a right or
title to country according to hunting law.
A mass of " evidence " in support of its case was
put in by the South Devon, which proved con-
clusively from the files of the Field and otherwise
that Bragg's harriers were first changed to foxhounds
at the beginning of the season 1880-1, and that the
South Devon had regularly and frequently met
during Westlake's mastership, and also subsequently,
at the following places, namely : Park, Bovey ;
Yarner ; Reddaford Water ; Heatree Gate ; Manaton ;
Spitchwick ; Ilsington ; Welstor Cross ; Manor House,
Widdicombe ; Furzeleigh ; Halsanger ; Bagtor ; Cock-
ingford Mill ; Swallaton Gate ; Widdicombe ; Hedge
Barton ; New Bridge ; Heytor Buildings, etc.
In addition to this, it was proved that the country
claimed by Mr. Thomas was actually and always had
TERRITORIAL DIFFERENCES 215
been South Devon country, no other pack hunting
fox alone having drawn it since the days of George
Templer. In testimony of this, besides other evidence,
letters were put in from the following, comprising as
will be seen several former masters of the South
Devon : Sir Henry Scale, Mr. Lane, Mr. ^Vhidborne,
Mr. Westlake, Mr. Evan Baillie, Mr. J. Woodley of
Halsanger (a former master of harriers who admitted
hunting foxes by permission of the masters of the
South Devon), Mr. W. Hole, Mr. Alexander Moffat
(for many years secretary of the South Devon), Mr.
Henry Michelmore (another former secretary), Mr.
Edwin Tucker, Mr. John Wright, Mr. John Kitson,
Mr. Robert Vicary, Messrs. Tozer & Son (Ashburton),
Major Robert C. Tucker, The Rev. Fitzwilliam Taylor,
Mr. J. Pinsent, ]\Ir. Alexander Monro, William Derges,
Mr. Ross and Mr. Tanner.
The result of the arbitration was promulgated in the
following memorandum : —
"in re the south DEVON HUNT
" Decision of the Committee of the Masters of Foxhounds
Association acting as Arbitrators between the South Devon
and Mr. Thomas's (Chagford) Hunts in reference to right of
Country. .. ^ p jj Association,
Tattersalls,
London, S.W.
July 5th, 1900.
" The Members of the Masters of Foxhounds Associa-
tion Committee, appointed as Arbitrators, having carefully
considered the statements made by the South Devon and Mr.
Thomas's Hunts, are of opinion that the Country hunted by
Mr. Thomas's hounds belongs solely to the South Devon Hunt.
(Signed) E. Park Yates, Chairman.
,, Tredegar.
,, H. H. Langham.
,, Chesham."
216 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
In the face of the evidence that Bragg's pack had
only been converted into foxhounds in the year 1880,
a fact which was admitted by Mr. Thomas's secretary
shortly before the hearing of the arbitration, it was
impossible for Mr. Thomas to succeed.
It will be noticed, though, that the decision was
not based on this fact alone. If it had been, it would
have taken the negative form of deciding that Mr.
Thomas's hunt had not made out its title to the
disputed area. The decision goes a great deal
farther than that ; it shews that the positive evidence
adduced by the South Devon was investigated by the
arbitrators and was such as to satisfy them that the
South Devon had proved its title, not only to the
strip of moorland immediately in question, but to
the whole of the country hunted by Mr. Thomas.
The award was accepted by Mr. Thomas's hunt in
a thoroughly sportsmanlike spirit, and, in the same
spirit, the South Devon, being thus left in possession
of the field, promptly set about making an arrange-
ment for the loan of a part of its vast territory to its
neighbour. A meeting took place at Dr. Gaye's
house on the 30th July, 1890, between representatives
of the two hunts, when it was arranged that Mr.
Thomas's hounds might hunt the country north of
the road leading from Moretonhampstead to Prince-
town, during Dr. Gaye's mastership of the South
Devon. Later, in 1894, at a meeting of the com-
mittee of the South Devon Hunt held on the 22nd
August, a more enduring arrangement was proposed,
as expressed in the following resolution, the terms of
which were afterwards accepted by the committee
of the Mid-Devon Hunt and have ever since been
adhered to : —
TERRITORIAL DIFFERENXES 217
" That the committee of the South Devon Hunt hereby
express their readiness to grant or let to the Mid-Devon Hunt,
so long as they observe the strict laws of hunting, the occupa-
tion of that portion of their country which lies on the North
and West of the road leading from Moretonhampstead to
Princetown (as shewn by a plan) in consideration of the pay-
ment to them of £5 a year (being a subscription to the
Warreners' Fund) such country to be held by the Mid-Devon
Hunt, but no other, so long only as it exists, it being expressly
understood that if the Mid-Devon Hunt is given up, the
country in question is at once to revert to the South Devon
Hunt ; and, further, that in case of a question of any kind
arising between the two Hunts the same is to be referred to
the M. F. H. Association, whose decision the two hunts shall
accept, act up to, and be bound by."
Harmony was thus restored. The most cordial
relations have ever since obtained between the two
hunts, and many a pleasant day has each enjoyed, by
invitation, in its neighbour's country.
Few people realize the amount of work which this
arbitration involved. Its success was due to the
energy of the master, Dr. Gaye, to the tact and good
temper of the honorary secretary, Mr. George Hext,
who had the conduct of the negotiations with the
other side, to the generous services of Mr. Arthur
Rendell, whose intimate knowledge of the country
was invaluable, and, above all, to the ability and
untiring zeal of his brother, Mr. Lewis Rendell, who,
being in practice in London as a solicitor, undertook
the preparation of the Case to be laid before the
Association and the evidence in support of it.
On him fell the labour of sorting, dissecting and
arranging the mass of correspondence and other
material gathered together by the industry of the
others, of digesting its contents, sifting the evidence
and reducing the whole into order, and of preparing
218 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
the " brief " with its copious appendices. In addition
to this, there were the files of the Field and other
sporting papers to be searched, writers of articles and
others to be hunted out and consulted, interviews
with many people to be held and a voluminous
correspondence with those at home of an explanatory
and detailed nature. Well did Mr. Lewis Rendell
deserve the cordial vote of thanks accorded him at a
general meeting of the hunt on the 29th October,
1890, and the compliment then paid him by electing
him an honorary member of the hunt for life.
His assistance was soon afterwards recognized in a
more substantial way by the presentation to him of
a marble chiming clock bearing the inscription :
"Presented to Lewis Rendell, Esq., as a mark
of esteem from the Members of the South Devon
Hunt. 1891."
Ill
REUNION
MAJOR ST. 2iIAUR
To fact page 221
CHAPTER XIX
MR. H-\ROLD ST. MAUE : 1S93-7
The new master's conditions — Staff and kennels — St:-r: ^. -;.r .n^ —
Appuuilment of fiekl-masters — ^Hunting *'.- HiM:- -.i^ — /
title: "Mr. St Manr's Hoonds (The :- - —I
members of the htmt — ^Ladies in the fiei:: — 7. - ._-:.:. — r
medical profession — The Torquay azMl Paizn::r, ;r . —
f (blowers — ^Xewcomeis during Mr. St. Maur ; r_i =: : . ' —
the master — Resignation withdravrD — Xe— :r , :. r = — 1
vote of thanks — Second resignation — Oner : ^ r : ' — _ :
of a sub-commitcee — Fund to purchase i: :r - . - i — :, : ^
ofier by Mr. St. Maur — Loan of country to -.Jir jiiA-L/^wcn : d-nji-:. - ;:
" And why should the mast^ alone of old Stover
Have his merits and fadhs in nUeinfiei passed over ? "
{A Parpf at Stumer.)
THE actual reunion of the Haldon side with the
Newton side was effected, as has been seen,
toward the close of Dr. Gaye's mastership.
On the retirement of Dr. Gave, negotiations were
entered into with Mr. St. Maur of Stover which
resulted in an offer from that gentleman to hunt the
country' three days a week, one of which was to be
appropriated to the Haldon side. He was to be
guaranteed a subscription of £600 a year ; the
earth-stopping and damage fund to be paid by
the hunt, and the Pulsford kennels to be at the
disposal of the master rent-free for the remaining
two years of the lease. On these terms, Mr. St. Mam-
was elected master at a general meeting held at
Xewton Abbot on the 1st March, IS 93.
The new master was twenty-four years of age. For
two or three vears he had held a commission in the
222 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
14th Hussars, but after his marriage had left the
service and settled on his own property at Stover.
His soldiering days, however, were not over, for he
was destined later to see active service in the Boer
War, having volunteered for service, and on his
return he joined the Royal 1st Devon Yeomanry
in which he is now a Major. He is also a considerable
landowner and lord of three manors.
Collings was kept on as huntsman. His son,
Frank, who had been in Dr. Gaye's service for five
years, first as second horseman and then as whip,
also went to Stover to whip in to his father and
remained there throughout Mr. St. Maur's reign.
Mr. St. Maur built new kennels at Stover, whither
the hounds were moved as soon as the new quarters
were ready to receive them.
The sport during this mastership was excellent,
as appears from the resolution passed at its close
to be noticed presently. Yet details are not avail-
able, for my own diary fails me, and that of the
master is inaccessible at the moment. After the
outbreak of war, Stover was converted into a Red
Cross Hospital, where a score of badly wounded
soldiers were, until quite recently, treated under the
very able personal management of Mrs. St. Maur.
Major St. Maur, as he now is, at present is on
active service and was through the Gallipoli Ex-
pedition with his youngest son. His eldest son is
with his regiment, the 14th Hussars, at Kut-el-
Amara, and his second son is in the Air Department,
Royal Naval Division. Truly a good record for one
family.
In the spring of 1895, at the master's suggestion,
the following gentlemen were appointed to act in
rotation as field-masters in the event of his absence :
MR. HAROLD ST. MAUR 223
Messrs. G. H. Hext, R. Vicary, W. Engelhardt, H. P.
Skidmore, W. Rendell and Captain Templer. It was
also agreed that there should be no obligation on the
master to hunt the Haldon side one day a week as
originally intended, but that the hunting in that
district should be left to the discretion of the master,
who, moreover, was not to be bound to take the field
on any stipulated days other than Tuesdays and
Saturdays. It was further decided, at the master's
request, the pack being his own property, that the
hunting appointments should in future be advertised
in the name of " Mr. St. Maur's Hounds (the South
Devon)."
It is difficult to classify under the various master-
ships the members and followers of the hunt. They
form an ever-changing body, and some last many
years longer than others. The composition of the
field in Mr. St. Maur's time was, on the whole, very
much the same as it had been during the regime of
his predecessor. Dr. Gaye, and the following were,
for the most part, hunting pretty regularly under
both masters.
The older members (in the sense only that they had
followed the South Devon under several previous
masters), included Messrs. W. R. Hole, G. H. Hext,
A. Rendell, A. Hingston, J. Kitson, W. C. Clack,
T. Codner, H. W. Steele, P. Symons, R. Vicary,
C. G. Vicary, E. Tucker, F. C. Simpson, Captain
J. G. E. Templer, Messrs. E. Fearnley Tanner, H. S.
Wright, J. Whidborne (in Dr. Gaye's time), and
Major Keating.
Ladies were not nearly so numerous in the field
twenty or thirty years ago as they are to-day. The
most prominent of them were Mrs. Goodwyn, Mrs.
G. H. Hext, Mrs. Henley, Miss Norris, daughter of
224 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
the well-known novelist, W. E. Norris ; Mrs. Ripley,
who, with her husband, Mr. H. M. B. Ripley of Hob
Green, Yorkshire, was a regular visitor to Torquay
for a series of winters ; Miss Tempest, now Lady
Beaumont, also wintering at Torquay ; Lady Freake
from Dartmouth, Miss Simmons, Mrs. Splatt, Lady
Clifford of Chudleigh, Miss E. Tayleur, Miss Whid-
borne and Mrs. Wale.
Strangely enough, the hunting parson, for which
Devon has always been noted, was not conspicuous
in this hunt during the period under review, and the
only one I can call to mind was the " Hunt Chaplain,"
the Rev. W. H. Thornton, an accomplished sports-
man who lived at North Bovey. He died in the
spring of the present year, and though he had not
hunted latterly, he continued to the last to take an
interest in the sport. But we, at one time, had
among the field a Methodist minister, the Rev.
J. Cocking from Moretonhampstead, who wore a red
coat and rode very hard.
There was, indeed, another clergyman who hunted
for a few seasons with the pack, but I think he was
hardly out when Mr. St. Maur was master. This was
the Rev. Joe Pitt, a delightful man of the old school,
of whom Sir Reginald Graham gives an amusing
sketch in his Foxhunting Reminiscences. He was
a friend of the eighth Duke of Beaufort, and a
great admirer of the Badminton pack and country,
though I believe he actually lived in the Cots-
wold country before he came to end his days at
Torquay.
The medical profession, on the other hand, was
well represented by Dr. Goodwyn from Bovey, Dr.
Haydon and Dr. Scott from Newton, Dr. Little from
Teignmouth, Dr. Symons and afterwards Dr. Ross
MR. HAROLD ST. MAUR 225
Macdonald from Kingskerswell, Dr. Raby from
Totnes and Dr. Laurie, a frequent visitor from the
Mid-Devon.
Torquay has always put a contingent in the field
which frequently included a visitor or two anxious
to see a little of Devonshire hunting. Among the
regular followers from that town were : Mr. Cassavetti
(in Dr. Gaye's time), whose flask of cold beef-tea
must have been only less uninviting than Hugo
Meynell's famous tincture of rhubarb ; Major Har-
greave, always in front ; Mr. H. M. B. Ripley, already
mentioned ; Mr. C. Tayleur and Mr. Engelhardt, the
best-turned-out man in the hunt and, for his weight,
one of the best to go. Mr. Engelhardt was also a
first-rate four-in-hand coachman ; I should say, with-
out exaggeration, one of the best of his day, and
thoroughly versed in all the details of coaching. The
road-coach that he ran daily through the summer
about the year 1892 from Torquay to Exeter and
back, with changes at Newton, Teignmouth and
Starcross, was perfection.
From Paignton came Messrs. A. M. Singer and
W. M. G. Singer and Mr. H. S. Kruger, no relation,
by the way, to Oom Paul.
There were also Mr. B. D. Webster, for ten years
master of the Haldon Harriers, to whom is due the
credit of putting that pack on a firm footing ; and
Mr. Mark Ball, its present master ; Messrs. J. J.
Cross, one of the keenest and best ; S. Hacker,
C. Henley, G. F. Kellock, now joint-master with Mr.
C.J. Swears of the Dart Vale Harriers ; Godfrey Lee,
T. Maye, W. Rendell, W. J. Phillips, J. Fletcher
Robinson, Rogers, the relieving-officer at Ashburton,
and Farmer John Hopkins, both strong allies of
ColHngs' ; H. S. Steele, who on his chestnut could
226 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
pound us all ; Parnell Tucker, Solomon Tozer of
Ashburton, on his famous grey ; S. P. Adams ; Cap-
tain Sherrard and, lastly. Colonel Walsh, Captain A. G.
Tozer and Mr. Basil Tozer of Teignmouth.
From the outskirts, or from neighbouring hunts,
would come Mr. Brunskill and Mr. C. H. H. Pitts
from the south ; Messrs. Hamlyn from Buckfastleigh,
Mr. Hayter-Hames, sometime master of the Mid-
Devon, and Mr. G. Spiller, a later master of the same
pack, from Chagford ; Mr. J. D. Prickman, for many
years its honorary secretary ; and Mr. Guy Whipham.
Others who lived out of the country never failed
to snatch a day when opportunity offered. Prominent
among these was Mr. W. F. Phillpotts, always cheer-
ful and with a temper that nothing seemed to ruffle,
despite his deafness. He was an astonishing man to
go, and kept his nerve to a late period. In his sixty-
sixth year he won the Bar point-to-point steeple-
chase, and when four years older rode in the East
Devon Hunt heavy-weight point-to-point and got
placed. This was surely pretty good for one whose
occupation (he was a conveyancing barrister in
London) kept him from the saddle for long periods
at a time ! Mr. Lewis Rendell was another who
always enjoyed a dart when he could get out of
London for a short holiday.
Those of the younger generation who have since
turned out well, not merely as performers in the field
but as taking an interest in the affairs of the hunt
and promoting them in the many ways possible,
included Mr. Raleigh Phillpotts, Messrs. W. R.
Vicary, L. G. Vicary, C. L. Vicary and Alfred
Hingston.
The field was strengthened and the gaps filled up
in Mr. St. Maur's time by the arrival of new-comers
MR. HAROLD ST. MAUR 227
in the country and younger folk coming on. The
reinforcements to the ladies' brigade included Mrs.
St. Maur, who has probably not forgotten how
narrowly she once escaped annihilation by a clumsy
horseman ; Mrs. Potts-Chatto, Mrs. W. Rendell (then
Miss Turner) and her two sisters, Mrs. Treeby, Miss
Frost, Miss Blundell, Mrs. Leicester, Miss Eardley-
Wilmot, Miss Eve, Miss Tudor and Miss ^^alite. Of
these, the last-named and Miss Frost are the only
ones that join the glad throng to-day. The men
comprised Mr. G. E. Allen, Mr. J. Alsop, Mr. R. H. E.
Burt, who remained loyal to the South Devon even
after he had quitted its boundaries ; Messrs. J. Bickford,
W. H. Eve, J. Fairweather, W. Ferrier-Kerr, E. Lewis,
Major Lyster, Mr. T. S. Scrimgeour, who contributed,
and still contributes, to the popularity of fixtures
around Natsworthy Manor by his staunch preserva-
tion of foxes, to say nothing of his hospitality ;
Messrs. H. P. Skidmore, Mountford Spencer, R.
Halford-Thompson and, when in England, Captain
Tudor and Mr. Arthur Wright. INIr. Robert Long,
brother to Mr. Walter Long, was among the visitors
at this period.
At the beginning of the season 1895-6, Mr. St. Maur
notified the committee that he would not continue to
hunt the country after that season, and though
pressed to reconsider his decision he did not at first
see his way to do so. In the month of December,
however, he was induced to withdraw his resignation
and consented to hunt the country the following
season two days a week (he had been putting in four
days up to that time) on a subscription of £500.
At a general meeting of the hunt held on the 18th
December, 1895, a resolution was passed recording
a vote of thanks to Mr. St. Maur " for the exceedingly
228 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
liberal and efficient way in which he had hunted the
country in the past, and for consenting to hunt it
next season."
At the close of the season 1896-7, Mr. St. Maur
finally resigned. An attempt to procure a master by
advertisement was made but proved abortive, and it
appeared that the only thing to be done was for the
committee to carry on for the time being. Mr.
St. Maur offered to lend the committee his hounds,
huntsman's house, kennels and stables on condition
the hunt would guarantee a thousand pounds a year
for three years to meet the expenses of hunting the
country. A canvas was accordingly made, but, as the
required guarantee was not forthcoming, it was im-
possible to accept the retiring master's offer, which
fact was put on record at a general meeting held on
the 3rd March, 1897, at which the appreciation of Mr.
St. Maur's services to the hunt was expressed in a
vote of thanks " for his services as master of the
South Devon Hunt for the past four seasons, in which
the record of the hunt has in every way been more
than maintained, for never has the hunt been more
efficiently equipped ; never have the hounds been of
such a high standard of merit ; and never, taking the
average of four years, has better sport been obtained."
A fund was there and then started for the purpose
of purchasing a pack of hounds, and a sum of £213
was raised in the room and arrangements were
made to invite further contributions. A sub-com-
mittee consisting of Messrs. Robert Vicary, W. M. G.
Singer, E. Lewis, W. Rendell and G. H. Hext was
formed and authorized to purchase hounds, horses
and equipment and to take all necessary steps to
carry on the hunt during the following season.
In the middle of the month of March a proposal
MR. HAROLD ST. MAUR 229
was received from Mr. St. Maur, accompanied by
certain suggestions for the good management of the
hunt.
The terms of Mr. St. Maur's proposal were as
follows : —
" 1. I will provide the hunt with twenty -two couple
and a half of my best hounds. (This number would
enable us to breed our own entry 'next> year.) The
hounds would of course remain my own property, but
I would agree to give twelve months' notice before
taking them back.
"2. I will pay the expenses of walking puppies and
give the usual prizes ; also pay for the journeys and
fees of such bitches as would have to be sent to dogs of
another pack.
"3. All drafts I will give to the huntsman as his
perquisite, and I will also pay the licences for the
pack.
" 4. I offer the choice of any of the hunt horses the
committee may wish to buy at twenty pounds apiece.
" 5. Should it be any advantage to the hunt, I will
lend the huntsman my kennels, field and half the
stable, subject to twelve months' notice.
" 6. Should the committee desire a master and not
find anyone who has sufficient time to devote to the
business of the hunt, and should the hunt think they
can repose sufficient confidence in me, I would not
object to undertake the duties provided someone else
was appointed to do the work in my absence. I must
ask the committee not to imagine that by this offer
I am making a bid for the mastership, but to believe
that I only make the offer because it may be difficult
to find anyone who has the time or inclination for the
job. The offers I have just made are not conditional
230 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
on my having any official connection with the hunt ;
they will hold good whatever committee or master
may be appointed, so long as they are suitable."
Mr. St. Maur's offer was certainly an exceedingly
generous one and made in the spirit of a true sports-
man. I do not know the reasons that precluded the
hunt from availing itself of such an offer, unhampered
as it was by any conditions ; but the fact remains
that the proposal was not accepted, and the sub-
committee proceeded to the consideration of the
functions deputed to it of making arrangements to
hunt the country.
Meanwhile, an application was received from Mr.
Gilbert Spiller and Mr. G. C. Ralston, the newly
appointed joint-masters of the Mid-Devon, for leave
to hunt a further part of the South Devon country,
and a loan for one season was assented to of certain
portions of the South Devon country as coloured on a
map and which may be identified by the following
description : —
1. A tract of land lying on the west of the Teign
and bounded on the east by that river, on the north
by the Exeter and Moretonhampstead road starting
from a point just below Dunsford, on the west by the
road leading from Chagford to Lustleigh and on the
south by an irregular line starting from the last-
named village, continuing to Kelly, thence to Slade
Cross and Poolmill Cross, and so, following the road
from there to Hennock, rejoining the Teign at
Crocombe Bridge.
2. A tract of land lying on the east of the Teign,
its western boundary marching with the piece
numbered 1 above from Dunsford to Bridford Mill,
bounded on the south and east by the road from
MR. HAROLD ST. MAUR 231
Bridford Mill by Leigh Cross and ^Yindy Cross to
Idestone and Ide and somewhat beyond to a point
where that road joins the Exeter and Moretonhamp-
stead road, which latter formed the northern boundary
as far as Longdown. From Longdown the boundary
diverged to the north and took in a slice of country
embracing Holcombe Burnell and Culver.
CHAPTER XX
MR. ROBERT VICARY AND MPw. WWSHIN'GTON
M. G. SINGER, ISPT-IPOI
viUi the oonntry — ^A tiinely oner — Appointed joint-masters —
WmrtfiniBWTB — OAer fzooMes — Collings still huntsman — Frank CoUings —
A new mbapper-ia — Tfagie deslh of Collings : killed at an earth —
Caiandty far the Hiait — Mr. E. P. Bovey appointed to succeed him — A
good zim — Beecsd of ^MSt — ^A day of disasters — Bovey joins the Imperial
YeoBianiy — Killed in action in Hie Boer Wax — Choules promoted to
faooiBnian — Sir John Amray's Sta^ioands in South Devon — Mr. Vicary
as a mwrifeman — ffis 1p*"»*J of fox-terriers widely known — World-wide
npaftaticn as a judge of dog or hound — List of places at which he has
judged — His eye fat hoond or hnse — Sets about improving the pack —
His fntperience of other oountzies — The pack — Some favourite hounds —
TCgwnfJtt most t^ofii^ — His horses — Scms and other members of the
faadfy — Bevives Kewton Abbot Ste^lechases : the arrangements
lemodeDed aztd improved — ^Resigns and leaves Mr. Singer to carry on.
" The brave pack meanwhile rivalled swallows for speed,
Anl dli j-astice to him who had managed their breed."
(Thp. C?.umleigh Club. By Geo. Templer, 1B14.)
MR. ROBERT VICARY has been a staunch
supporter of the South Devon for a great
number of yeai^ and a keen follower of the pack from
his boyhood, now longer ago than he cares to brood
upon, and Mr. Singer, who will be treated of in the
next chapter, had, for some years prior to Mr.
St. 3Iaur's resignation, identified himself with the
hunt and the countn,'.
It v.as a fitting thing that these two gentlemen, in
a most public-spirited manner, should offer their
services to the country* at a moment when it appeared
that, for the first time in the history of the hunt, the
tUa-l ■ --I-
MR. R. VICARY & MR. W. M. G. SINGER 233
management would have to be undertaken by the
committee.
At that time, Mr. Vicary was the mainspring of the
large tannery business at Ne^\i:on Abbot of Messrs.
John Vicary & Sons. This, with other calls upon his
time entailed by his position as a member of various
public bodies and a Justice of the Peace for the
County, left him little leisure to devote to the onerous
duties of a modern master of hounds. Mr. Singer,
too, though a free man, had many other interests,
some of which took him frequently from home. When
therefore he and I\Ii'. Vicary, prompted solely by the
desire to promote sport and to help the hunt out of
a difficulty, volunteered to become its joint-masters,
their offer came quite unexpectedly and was appreci-
ated at its true value. They were formally appointed
masters at a general meeting held on the 28th July,
1897, on the terms that they should receive a sub-
scription of £600 a year, on which a reduction
of £100 was agreed to for their second season in
consequence of the low state of the exchequer. At
that time, the hunt accounts shewed an adverse
balance of £327 odd, part of which had been incurred
in respect of the season prior to the new mastership.
Despite a special effort, generously responded to by
the usual dozen or score of members, the accounts at
the end of the season 1898-9 still shewed a deficit,
amounting to £282 12s. 2d. Towards this Mi*. Singer
himself contributed the generous, if quaint, sum of
£153 15s. 7d. conditionally upon the balance being
raised, as was done, by special subscription. Never-
theless, when the agreed term of the joint-masters
expired at the end of the season 1900-1, there was
again a deficit, this time of some £450. It apparently
is often the case, though it should not be so, that the
234 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
difficulty of raising money in a hunt is greater where
the master is a man of means.
Financial troubles were not the only ones that
befell the hunt during this mastership. On the
opening day of the season 1898-9 the honorary
secretary, Mr. G. H. Hext, had his leg broken through
being kicked in the field and was laid up for the rest
of the season. In the same winter, Mr. Vicary caught
such a severe cold on the moor as to render him
temporarily deaf and to debar him from taking the
field for a considerable time. Worse was to come.
CoUings had been kept on as huntsman. His
reputation was at its height, and he was an invalu-
able servant, especially to masters who had not at
their disposal the time necessary to visit the distant
parts of such a large country. Collings' son, Frank,
left at the end of the first season to go into business
at Marychurch, whence some time later he went to
Chagford and took the Three Crowns Hotel. He
is still there, and ever since settling at Chagford has
been of great service to the Mid-Devon Hunt, at times
hunting the pack, and at other times undertaking
its sole management on behalf of the committee.
The vacancy in the hunt staff was filled, after a
temporary appointment, by the engagement of Harry
Choules as first whip. He came to take up his duties
on the morning of the 20th December, 1898 — an
eventful day as it proved — just as Collings was
starting with the hounds for Welstor Cross, but he
did not accompany the pack. Neither of the masters
was out that day.
A fox was found, and, after running through
Lizwell Wood, went to earth in a clitter of rocks on
the steep hillside at Avychurch in Buckland Woods.
Collings set the terrier to work and took up his
>m. R. VIC.\IIY &: ^m. W. M. G. SINGER 235
position beside a large boulder at the top of the mass
of granite stones forming the chtter. Mr. J. J. Cross
was standing within a yard or two of Collings, under
whose directions Doney. the second whip, and a
groom from Buckland Court were engaged below in
pulling out the smaller stones to facilitate the
terrier's movements. Suddenly, on the removal of
one particular stone which proved to be the founda-
tion-stone of the pile, the whole mass gave way and
came down with a run, bringing Collings with it ; the
huge top boulder, estimated to weigh at least three
tons, pitched on the poor fellow and then rolled on
for a short distance. CoUings was crushed like a fly
and killed instantaneously. The others just escaped
by throwing themselves out of the way.
The few people who composed the field that day
were waiting in the upper drive. Among them was
Dr. F. E. Little, who kept a lonely vigil over the body
by the banks of the cr\ing Dart until a conveyance
could be obtained, and then took the dead huntsman
home. On Mr. Cross and Doney fell the duty of
taking the pack back to the kennels and breaking the
news to Mrs. Collings.
We biu-ied the poor fellow at Denbury on Christmas
Eve and he was carried to liis crrave bv some of his
" intimates." A great number of people attended.
The untimely death of CoUings was indeed a
calamity for the himt. He knew the country inti-
mately and the people in it, among whom he had
become ver\" popular, for they understood him and
appreciated, fully as well as did the members of the
field, his success as huntsman. He was always
desperately keen, and nothing was too much trouble
if it tended to promote sport.
The masters had a difficult task in finding a sue-
236 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
cessor in the middle of the season. It was essential to
have someone with a general knowledge of the country,
and after due deliberation they secured the services
of Mr. E. P. Bovey, who at the time was master and
huntsman of the Ashburton Harriers. It was trying
a man rather high to pitchfork him suddenly into
such a position, but the selection was approved as
the best that could be made under the circumstances.
It was only in the nature of things that sport
should suffer. Still, we had some good runs and the
new huntsman worked hard to shew sport. One day
in particular, the 21st of February, 1899, did him
great credit. It was on the Haldon side, a country
absolutely unknown to Bovey. A fox from Oxton
made a six-mile point to beyond the Rectory at
Doddiscombsleigh, going first over the open plain of
Haldon by Harcombe, the Racecourse and Oxen-
combe, and then threading the great woodlands and
deep bottoms of A^Tiiteway and Kiddens. A country-
man saw the fox in a lane, " scat all over," but he got
into some shippens (as was discovered later) and beat
the pack.
Only three saw this run. The huntsman was one
and a younger son of Mr. R. Vicary was another ;
neither knew an inch of the line, and after reaching
White way they had no pilot but the pack.
Other good days there were, such as the 25th of the
same month, when, from New Buildings, they ran
round Pinchaford Ball to Lower Bagtor and Sigford
and by Owl's Rattle to Halsanger, Bagtor Wood and
the Big Rubble Heap, whence a fresh fox brought
them back at a tremendous pace to New Buildings
and Lower Bagtor, then more slowly to Owlacombe
tin mine, where he went in. He was bolted and killed
after another sharp burst.
MR. R. VICARY & MR. W. M. G. SINGER 237
Our time was well filled in on the 6th January,
1900, with a capital day's sport from Reddaford
Water. First, a run through Lustleigh Cleave to the
Rubble Heap ; then a big ring with another fox,
hounds running in view for the last mile and killing
him on the Heap before he could get in ; finishing
with a run from Yarner to Stover over a deligiitful
line with plenty of big sound banks.
Despite a cold and stormy day with a falling glass,
the pack gave a most creditable hunting run of two
hours and a half on the 27th January, 1900, with just
a holding scent, all over and around Lindridge and
Ugbrooke, the extreme points being Bishopsteignton
and the Thorns. They made a good point on the
24th of the following month, finding their fox at
Granite Lodge, and after taking him bv Langaller and
Brimley, through Yarner, Houndtor Ridge and
Lustleigh Cleave, and on beyond Lustleigh Rectory,
brought him back to the Cleave and earthed him
there. The 17th of March in the same year at He}i:or
Buildings was a day of recurrent snowstorms with
some pretty sport in between, and on the 20th the
moor was imder snow and hunting impossible.
A very sharp biu-st of twenty-eight minutes after
meeting at Leighon on the 24th ^larch, 1900, pro-
duced an unusual amount of grief amongst the field.
One of the joint-masters, ^Ir. W. M. G. Singer, broke
his arm, Mr. Hayter-Hames and four others were
dovm. together and Bovey took a hea\y fall on
Challacombe. Snow was still lying on the moor and
was the cause of some of these disasters.
Probably the best run during Bovey's time was
one that came off from AViddicombe on a certain
Saturday ; I have not the exact date. The first part
was all over Challacombe, Hamildon and Birch Tor
238 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
very fast ; then slower hunting in the same region,
and then away, undoubtedly with a fresh fox, at a
great pace, over the Moreton road by Metherell and
to ground at Hempson Rocks. The whole run
occupied one hour and three-quarters.
Another first-class day was the 1st of December,
1900, when Choules was hunting the pack. It is a
long way out to Heatree, and the late Mr. John
Kitson, knowing that the field would be ready for a
second breakfast when they arrived, acted accord-
ingly. From Shapely Bog, hounds raced a fox over
King Tor to the Moreton road, left-handed to Birch
Tor, Sousand and Challacombe ; then, after a check,
through Blackaton Newtake to the Gorse above
Widdicombe and scent failed on Bittleford Down
after forty-five minutes. This was followed by a fine
run of sixty minutes from Bag Park over Hamildon
by Blackaton, Challacombe, Grendon and Cator to
Ponds worthy.
Bovey continued to act as huntsman until the end
of the season 1899-1900. He then joined the Imperial
Yeomanry and went out to South Africa, where he
fell a victim to his patriotism, being killed in action.
Choules, the first whip, was then promoted, but as
often happens when a man has long been in the
subordinate position, he was not an unqualified
success as huntsman.
It was during this dual mastership that the late Sir
John Amory's Staghoui^ds came down from Tiverton
to try for certain red deer stated to have been
frequenting Buckland Woods for some three or four
years past. Mr. Ian Amory, who hunted his father's
pack, stayed at Holne Park with the Hon. Richard
Dawson. They met on the 11th October, 1898, at
Welstor Cross, but the large field was doomed to a
MR. R. VICARY & MR. W. M. G. SINGER 239
blank day. I believe they spent another fruitless day
in the locality, no deer being seen or even slotted.
Besides being a good horseman and, in his younger
days, a distinctly hard rider, Mr. Vicary took a great
interest in hounds and their work. This was but
natural in one who had always been a " doggy "
man. The fox-terrier, both the rough and the smooth
variety, has always been his speciality, and his
kennel is well known wherever that popular dog
flourishes. His reputation as a judge, not only of the
terrier but of other breeds of dogs, hounds included,
is world-wide, as will be seen from the following list
of places at which he has acted as judge, mostly on
several occasions : —
Crystal Palace, K.C. ; Botanical Gardens, L.K.A. ;
Agricultural Hall, London ; Maddison Gardens, New
York ; Cork, Clifton, Dublin, Limerick, Belfast, Berlin,
Vienna, Leipsic, Paris, Halberstadt, Amsterdam,
Edinburgh, S.K.C. ; Oxford, F.T.C. ; Derby, F.T.C. ;
Baden, Bristol, Plymouth, Exeter, Taunton, Crediton,
Barnstaple, Manchester, Birkenhead, Nottingham,
Leicester, Brighton, Chester, Blackpool, F.T.C. ;
Antwerp, Brussels, Falmouth, Redruth, Helston,
Crickhowell and many others. On two occasions,
Mr. Vicary had an engagement to go to Russia, but
each time it fell through. Other invitations came
from San Francisco, from Sydney and other places
in Australia and from South Africa. These, however,
had to be declined for want of the necessary time.
The above postulates a long experience previously
acquired ; but experience alone, without the natural
gift of " a good eye " for the animal, is of no use.
This " good eye " is a far less common attribute than
some of our friends would have us believe. Mr.
Vicary has it in a marked degree both for hound and
240 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
horse. The late Lord Portsmouth had it, and of him
it was said that, given a fortnight's practice, he would
be a good judge of a giraffe ! In addition, Mr. Vicary's
character for integrity and impartiality, qualities not
always associated with the necessary talent, was an
additional factor that accounted for his being so
much sought after as a judge.
It will be understood, then, with what alacrity he
set about improving the personnel of the pack, paying
due regard to symmetry and parentage but not
losing sight of hunting qualities. He was observant
of hounds in their work, a much easier thing, by the
way, for a man who has a good memory for a hound
than for another, and had begun his hunting career in
South Devon in the days of Westlake and had also seen
sport in Cheshire, in Warwickshire, with the Duke of
Beaufort and with Lord Fitzhardinge's and other good
packs. I sometimes think one is more observant and
learns more in a single day in a strange country than
in half a season amid familiar surroundings at home.
The joint-masters began with a pack of thirty-one
couple. Casualties and other causes reduced this
number by four couple, but in the meanwhile the
additional purchase of eleven - and - a - half couple
brought up the strength of the pack to thirty-eight
couple and a half. In their second season, the pack
numbered forty couple and a half; in their third,
forty-four and a half, and in their last season, forty-
three couple. From five days a fortnight the hunting
days increased to three days a week, none too many
considering the Haldon side was included in the area
to be covered.
From the following list of Mr. Vicary's favourites
it will be seen that the best kennels in England were
represented in the pack.
MR. R. VICARY & MR. W. M. G. SINGER 241
DOGS
Craftsman, by Lord Macclesfield's Rally wood — His
Countess.
Douglas, by Four Burrow Darter — Blackmore Vale
Rosalind.
Sampson, by N. Staffordshire Ganymede — ^Their Surety.
Discount, by Belvoir Dexter — Cambridgeshire Necklace.
Hotspur, by Belvoir Hamlet — Atherstone Remedy.
BITCHES
Giddy, by Lord Portsmouth's Goblin — Duke of Beaufort's
Relish.
Harmony, by Warwickshire Fullerton — South Cheshire
Heroine.
Careful, by N. Staffordshire Capital — ^Their Neatness.
Brilliant, by Lord Macclesfield's Craftsman — South Devon
Bashful.
Necklace, by Belvoir Nominal — V.W.H. Letty.
Craftsman, if I remember rightly, was a yellow-
pied dog that came to the South Devon from the
Four Burrow and was used a good deal in both
kennels. He was a rare hunter. Discount was a good
hound, and one easy to remember from a large white
spot on one side of his quarter. It used to give some
of us considerable satisfaction to point him out to a
stranger : " Discount, by the Belvoir Dexter "
sounded well and gave tone to the pack. The
information, however, sometimes led to disconcerting
questions about other hounds !
Harmony was a rare bitch, full of quality and
excellent in her work ; but in later years she belied
her name and took to running mute, a fault more
fatal, probably, in a country like the South Devon
than elsewhere.
The kennels most fancied and patronized by Mr.
242 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
Vicary for breeding purposes were Lord Portman's
and the North Staffordshire (Duke of Sutherland's).
Mr. Vicary was always well mounted and his liking
for quality extended to his horses. Among his best,
at one time or another were Blondin, by the Arab
Mazagan ; Bondsman, by Hungerford ; Cyclone, by
Snowstorm ; Orator, by Ranter ; Blackthorn, by
Alpenstock ; Marquis, by Marquis of Townsend ;
Gingerbread, by Dry Toast.
Four of Mr. Vicary's sons were early entered to the
sport. At the time he and Mr. Singer were masters,
the most prominent, because the elder, of these were
Mr. W. R. Vicary and Mr. L. G. Vicary, both of
whom helped their father considerably with the
internal details of management and have been of
immense service to the hunt in later times. His two
younger sons, Norman and Cecil, were also coming on
at that time.
One of Mr. Vicary's brothers, the late Mr. Charles
G. Vicary, was also a keen follower of the pack for
many years, and two at least of his sons had at this
time already begun to hunt. One, Mr. Charles
Vicary, whose merit as an artist is well known, is at
home and in the family business and is consequently
able to do a good deal for the hunt. Another, Captain
Alec Vicary, in the Gloucester Regiment, is always to
be found in the South Devon field when on leave. He
and a younger brother are now fighting for their
country ; both have been twice mentioned in de-
spatches, and both have earned the Military Cross.
It will be seen that the Vicary element was strong
in the hunt, and it remains so to this day, to the
material advantage of the South Devon.
To Mr. Vicary mainly belongs the credit of re-
vivifying the moribund Newton Abbot Steeplechases.
MR. R. VICARY & MR. W. M. G. SINGER 243
His enterprise and sporting spirit breathed new life
into the concern and put it upon a new and sound
footing. The course was improved and a permanent
stand erected, the whole arrangements being
modelled upon those at Sandown Park, though,
necessarily, on a smaller scale. As a result, a better
class of horses was attracted. Some of the best
riders in the kingdom were to be seen on the Marshes,
and the company he formed was just beginning to
reap its reward when the war broke out.
At the end of the season 1900-1, the many calls
upon his time compelled Mr. Vicary to retire, and he
left Mr. Singer to carry on the mastership single-
handed.
CHAPTER XXI
MR. WASHINGTON M. G. SINGER: 1901-7
Becomes a naturalized British subject — Early days — Disinterested motives
in first taking the covmtry — Volunteers to continue alone on INIr. Vicary's
retirement — Hunts the country at his own expense — Field expenses
provided by the hunt — Appoints Mr. W. Rendell huntsman — A successful
move — Mr. RendeU's qualifications — An appreciation — Mrs. Rendell —
Mr. Singer buys the Leighon Estate : advantages to the country — Owner
of Blagdon Barton — Shooting tenant of Berry — Hunt staff : W. Cole ;
H. Thompson — Hunt horses — Mr. Ferris of Capton — The pack — Purchase
of the Four Burrow dog pack — The Haldon side loaned to the Tremlett —
Possession res\maed — Fallow deer on Haldon — A record of good sport :
some great runs — A dramatic finish — Red deer in Buckland Woods : visit
of the Quantock Staghounds — The South Devon Hunt week — " Sir
Henry Seale"s country " : Pourparlers with the Dartmoor — Important
letters — Mr. L. Vicary succeeds Mr. Hest as hon. secretary — A presenta-
tion to Mr. Hext — The master's popularity — Some followers of the pack —
The master's enforced absence and unexpected resignation — General
regret — A resolution of thanks — Complimentary dinner and presentation
to Mr. Singer.
" Swift as arrows of Ught they skim over the plain.
Like the torrent then sweep the deep valleys again."
(The Chase. By Geo. Templet.)
MR. W. M. G. SINGER is a son of the late Mr.
I. M. Singer, the founder of the American
business which has long since attained a world-wide
reputation, but he ceased to be an American citizen
and became a naturalized British subject soon after
attaining his majority. His father had settled at
Paignton some years before his death, and so it came
about, that, after completing his education in England
and on the Continent and spending some time in
travel, Mr. Singer made South Devon his home. From
football and athletics he graduated in the sports of
244
1C2 ■Tv-A.sHixcc-rcy
. I .m's Oiopt zAi
MR. WASHINGTON M. G. SINGER 245
the field, and, in addition to hunting and shooting,
soon took an interest in racing and chasing. As a
young man he was useful at polo, but that excellent
game, like cricket, has never prospered in South
Devon owing to the difficulty of finding suitable
levels for play or practice.
Fond of hunting as Mr. Singer always was, there is
no doubt that he did not seek the honours, such as
they are, or the troubles, which are many, that
brighten or beset the life of an M.F.H. His coming
forward as he did, in conjunction with Mr. R. Vicary,
was dictated by feelings of public spirit and solely
with the object of saving the country from the
unquestionable disadvantage of committee rule.
The joint-masters had had much misfortune to
contend with, but when Mr. Vicary retired Mr.
Singer had grown so keen that he volunteered to
continue in sole command and to hunt the country
at his own expense, stipulating only, and very wisely,
that the members should themselves provide a
damage fund of £250 a year and pay the rent of the
kennels and the expenses of keepers and earth-
stoppers and their annual dinner.
Mr. Singer then succeeded in persuading Mr. Willie
Rendell to hunt the hounds. The pack had not been
hunted by an amateur huntsman since the days of
Ross, and the appointment of a man of some thirty-
eight years of age who had never actually hunted
hounds was looked upon in some quarters as rather a
bold stroke. So it may have been, but events proved
it a successful one and amply justified the master's
judgment.
Mr. Rendell had hunted from boyhood, was a light
weight and a good horseman, and with his active
habits could almost be said to have that desirable
246 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
possession — an old head upon young shoulders. In
addition, he had been a strong ally of poor Collings,
and from him had learned much both of the routine
of the kennel and of those intricacies of the chase
which are patent only to those who know where to
look for them and who have a personal acquaintance
with the individuals composing the pack. Above all,
he was, in the words of Beckford, " fond of the
diversion and indefatigable in the pursuit of it." He
also had a good knowledge of the country and was
well known and well liked by the natives. With
these advantages, it was not surprising to those who
knew Mr. Rendell to find him settling down quietly
and naturally in his new vocation. He shewed a
natural aptitude for the work and turned out a
capital huntsman, quick, yet steady, always with his
hounds and very observant of their movements, and
shewing also considerable knowledge of the habits of
the fox. He could use his voice in the woodlands,
but, like all huntsmen of experience, was chary of its
use on the moor where the chatter of the field alone
will disturb a fox a mile away down- wind. I have
heard one of the oldest sportsmen in the country,
and a good judge to boot, declare that he never saw
anything better than Mr. Rendell's style in drawing
the open moor : his hounds not spreading too far,
and one whipper-in wide on each side of him. The
whole pack then had a chance of getting away in a
body, often " right on the back " of a fox, and fast
and furious was the burst that would follow. Mr.
Rendell took up his residence at Tor Newton House,
a central position about a mile distant from the
kennels at Pulsford Hills. He was so fortunate as to
have a wife in thorough sympathy with his tastes.
Mrs. Rendell was herself keenly interested in the sport
MR. WASHINGTON M. G. SINGER 247
and in the well-being of the South Devon country,
and was a regular follower of the pack.
Steartfield, Mr. Singer's house at Paignton, was
inconveniently situated as regards a great deal of
the country. About this time the Leighon Estate,
in the parish of Ilsington, came into the market. It
was situated on the edge of the moor and comprised
some fifteen hundred acres, including the Heytor
valley, beloved of foxes, and a pleasant residence at
its northern extremity. With the twofold object of
the interests of the hunt and his convenience as
master, Mr. Singer bought the estate ; and, though
his own convenience was better served by the develop-
ment of motor-cars that soon followed, the advan-
tages to the hunt from his ownership of this property
has ever since been very great. He was also the
owner of Blagdon Barton, near Paignton, a favourite
fixture for the pack in his time and one where a quick
find was usually a certainty, as it still is, thanks in no
small measure to the present excellent tenant, Mr.
Coaker. The shooting, too, of the great woodlands
of Berry was at this time in the hands of the M.F.H.,
a fact which contributed in no small measure to the
sport in that part of the country.
Mr. Rendell had two excellent assistants in William
Cole, from the Dartmoor, as kennel-huntsman and
first whip, and Harry Thompson, from the Black-
more Vale, as second whip, and the three worked
together with a harmony not always found where
professionals have to minister to an amateur. Hunts-
man and whips were well mounted, and the turn-out
was workmanlike and smart without any ostentation
or useless extravagance.
Among the best of the hunt horses, or those owned
by Mr. Rendell, were Peter, an Irish horse bought
248 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
from the late Mr. " Jemmy " Deacon, a wonder both
over the moor and in-country and never known to
tire ; Speedwell, from the Eggesford hunt stables ;
Goldfinch, bred by Mrs. Rendell, and Miss May,
bought from Mr. Richard Ferris of Capton who bred
her. Of the last mentioned, Mr. Rendell says she
could be trusted always to get to or live with hounds
and she never tired. Mr. Ferris, though eighty-
eight years of age, is still riding clean-bred ones !
This is evidently the fruit of early habit, for he won
a race over three miles of country when only twelve
years old.
The pack, at the outset, numbered forty-one
couple. It was strengthened during the first season
by the addition of the Four Burrow dog-pack,
numbering twenty-five couple and a half, purchased
from that well-known judge of what a foxhound
should be, Mr. John Williams of Scorrier. The
master thus had plenty of material to work upon, and
by the beginning of the second season the pack had
been drafted down to forty-five couple, comprising
an equal number of each sex and hunted as two
packs ; amply sufficient for three days a week.
Of the Four Burrow lot. Vagrant, by the Grafton
Woodman out of the Four Burrow Vanity, was
perhaps the most fancied, and was very freely used
in the kennel. Mr. Singer also had a lot of very good
hounds from the North Staffordshire and found the
Grove and the Badminton very good kennels to visit.
Having suffered during his partnership with Mr.
Vicary from lack of support from the Haldon side
and from difficulty in getting access to coverts there,
in consequence of many of the shootings being let,
Mr. Singer decided not to hunt the Haldon side
during his first season as sole master. That country,
MR. WASHINGTON M. G. SINGER 249
or, rather, so much of it as was not included in the
loan made to the joint-masters of the Mid-Devon in
1897,^ was accordingly loaned for one season to Mr.
Morris, the then master of the Tremlett, a hunt now
extinct. But the arrangement was completed too
late in the year to be of much service to Mr. Morris,
and, when he retired at the end of that season, the
Haldon side reverted to Mr. Singer, who visited it
occasionally in his second season. In his third
season, an attempt was made to improve on this
arrangement, but the effort did not meet with
sufficient encouragement, and, consequently, during
the season 1904-5 the Haldon side was not hunted.
In the following year, Mr. Singer revived the attempt
and continued to put in a few days on that side in
each successive season. One great drawback was the
increasing number of wild fallow deer on and around
Great Haldon. They originated from deer escaped
from a park, whether Ugbrooke, Powderham or
Oxton is uncertain. They have now become so
numerous that last year (1915) I counted twenty-
three deer in one herd alone. Hounds that are quiet
enough in a park will oftentimes break away after
deer in the open, or in woodlands, and, in such a steep
and heavily wooded country as the Haldon side, it is
rarely possible for the hunt staff to get to their heads
to stop them.
Nevertheless, some useful days were put in on
Haldon, as, for example, when the pack met at Ware
Cross, Kingsteignton, on the 21st December, 1905.
The morning fox from Kingswood provided a capital
thirty minutes before he went to ground in Tower
1 See p. 230. The loan of this part of the Haldon aide terminated on Mr.
Spiller's retirement from the mastership of the Mid-Devon Hounds in the
spring of 1902.
250 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
Plantation, after visiting all Captain Templer's
coverts and then crossing Little Haldon. The second
fox kept the pack hard at it for an hour and twelve
minutes, and then he too went to earth in Lidwell
drain and paid the penalty. The day was fast closing
in when the first fox was taken out and put down on
Little Haldon. He made the most of his oppor-
tunities and the hounds were stopped in Luscombe
after twenty minutes, it being then five o'clock and
quite dark.
If circumstances militated against continued suc-
cess on the Haldon side, a great deal of excellent
sport was obtained on the other side of the Teign.
Here are some samples :
1902, March 10th. Granite Lodge, Stover. A good
run from Staplehill over the enclosed country by
Hobbin, Chercombe Bridge, Whiterock, Westwoods
and Two Mile Oak, changing there to a vixen.
April 15th. Natsworthy. A first-class gallop from
Hamildon Beacon to Coal Mire, over Blackaton
Newtake by Coombe Farm, Bag Park Plantation and
Pitton Farm, across the Widdicombe Valley, over
Honey Bag Tor by Hedge Barton to Houndtor Rocks
and on to Hayne Down and Bowerman's Nose, where
they killed in the open after the fox had gone into the
rocks and come out again. Thirty minutes at a
racing pace. Mr. Rendell, riding Peter, and Cole
were the only two who could live with the pack.
A very good in-country day and one to test the
hunting powers of the pack was that of the 14th
March, 1903, the fixture being Granite Lodge, Stover.
The first fox kept the pack busy for an hour and
fifteen minutes and ran through all the Stover coverts
and those of Miss Divett, before he was killed near
the Heathfield Potteries. Another from Custreet
MR. WASHINGTON M. G. SINGER 251
went away by Staplehill to Stover and over the
railway to Indio, being ultimately earthed near where
he was found after one hour and fifty minutes' solid
hunting.
From Natsworthy, we had a grand run on the 21st
November, 1903, with a fox that stole away unseen
from the top of Hamildon. The pack crossed the
road and valley and ran over Challacombe hill to
Birch Tor. Then left-handed through the old mine
workings and the whole length of Sousand Warren
to Runnage, over Merripit Hill to Stannon Tor, and
on to Ladehill, where a short check occurred. Being
soon righted, hounds ran over the boggy country as
if for Stat's Hill, where the fox turned down wind
over Hartland Tor to Post Bridge and Dury and w^as
pulled down in the open within a field of Belliver
Bridge after one hour and twenty-five minutes. The
greater part of this run was in the teeth of a north-
westerly gale. There was a rare scent.
The 12th March, 1904, provided a magnificent
day's sport, finishing up with the run of the season,
perhaps of many seasons. The place of meeting was
Manaton Green, and a fox from Hayne Down was
first hunted unsuccessfully for thirty minutes.
Another, that was raked up on the Heatree side of
King Tor, out of a patch of heather through which
four or five of the field had just ridden, popped into
the earths at Heathercombe. The great run began
from Grim Tor in the afternoon, and the pack led us
over the hill of Challacombe, past the Golden Dagger
Mine and Sousand Warren, crossed the Princetown
road and entered the Mid-Devon country. Caroline
Bog was passed on our left. Fern worthy Newtake
and Assycombe hill crossed at great speed, and
Teignhead Farm reached. From here, the line led
252 THE SOLTH DEVON HI'NT
over Manga straight to the ver>- top of Steeperton,
on to Xack Mine and Oke Tor. and across Scad-
bottom to East Mill Tor : then, leaving Hartor Farm
to the right, up the stream to West Mill Tor and
Rou^ Tor, where the fox got to ground within a
quarter of a mile of the Okehampton Artillery Camp.
Time, one hour and three-quarters. A twelve-mile
point, measured on the map, and quite fifteen as
hounds ran : all of it on the moor and, for the most
part, over excellent going. But though we never got
on to the bogs proper, there were two or tiiree miles
of very nerve-racking ground in the latter half of the
run, and the number that persevered after Teignhead
and reached the end was but ei^ht all told, amoncrst
them, in addition to the staff, being Mr. W. R. Vicaiy%
Mr. L. G. Vicaiy, Mr. Frank Thomas, riding 'Sirs.
Rendell's Old Lol, and Mr. Spiller, who piloted the
field after the Mid-Devon countiy had been fairly
invaded. Mr. Rendell and the pack had thirty miles
back to kennel, which they reached at 10.35, having
left home in the morning at 8.30.
A red-letter day was the 29th of the same month.
There was a tremendous scent, and hounds raced a
fox from Warren Inn to Riddon Mire, Belliver, Arch
Tor, Rough Tor and the bogs beyond, where they
killed : ten miles in an hour and twenty minutes.
When crossing Riddon Mire, the pack di^-ided and
one half went away with a fresh fox to Cator and
Comdon Tor and killed him at Comdon Ford Farm
in a stable. Dalesman roared at him in the manger
like a lion. Ttiis was a race from start to finish and
occupied thirty-five minutes.
Given weather, one is generally sm*e of sport from
Widdicombe-in-the-Moor, but rarely has that fixture
provided a better day than on the 6th April, 1904,
MR. WASHINGTON M. G. SINGER 253
begiiminff with thirty minutes to ground from Coal
Mire to Bunhill Rocks and finkhing with a great hunt
of an hour and forty-five minutes, first, all over Hamil-
don and then away to Hemstone Rocks, Sittaford
Tor, Whitehorse Hill and Dart Head, where hounds
earthed their fox within half a mile of Cranmere Pool.
This was a very hard day for horses, the moor being
very wet, and some of the ground was very bad indeed.
In the following season, Widdicombe was again
the trysting place on the occasion of another really
great day, the 14th of January, 1905.
The morning kept us fully occupied with a run of
fortv-five minutes from Bag Park over Ham il don bv
Blackaton, Comdon Tor, Yar Tor and Cupboard
Holt, to earth in the Dartmoor country under
Cumpston Tor, followed by a quick circular fifteen
minutes around Challacombe to ground. This alone
would have sent us home satisfied, but more was in
store.
The run of the day may be said to have begun at
Warren Inn. where a moved fox had crossed the road
with something like a ten-minutes" start, a big
handicap with a Dartmoor afternoon fox. Leaving
King's Oven on the right, they ran over Fern worthy
Little Newtake, Assycombe Hill, Hemstone Bog and
Hill, into Teignhead Newtake and on to Sittaford
Tor. From here the fox took a big ring by Varra-
combe bottom, Whitehorse TTill, Dart Head and
Stat's Hill. He was viewed scarcely a hundred yards
before the pack, but was headed at Sittaford Tor,
which caused a check that saved his life, though he
was not given up until Femworthy was reached.
The nm was very fast until the fatal check. I know
one of the field who got as far as the RA. signalling
post on Whitehorse Hill and there climbed to the top
254 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
of the flagstaff in the hope of again seeing the vanished
pack. In the faihng Hght of a winter's afternoon the
scene from that elevation was one of utter desolation.
There was neither sign nor sound of any living thing,
and nothing was left but to get the tired horse off the
moor while the light served, and then to Chagford to
claim a night's hospitality for the beast from Mr.
Spiller.
Two brilliant gallops fell to the lot of the pack
during the Hunt Week that season.
The first, on the 6th April, 1905, ended, after fifty-
five minutes with barely a check, with a kill in the
open at Scobitor. The fox was found in the old
mine workings under Birch Tor and took us over
Headland and Challacombe Warrens, up to the top
of Hamildon and down the other side by Wood Pitts
and Stone Farm ; across the Widdicombe valley by
Honeybag Tor and Holwell Tor to WTiite Gate,
thence through Newhouse Mire to Scobitor.
The second took place on the 8th of the same
month, the fixture being Warren Inn, to draw by
invitation the country hunted by the Mid-Devon, of
which Mr. Spiller was at that time master. This run
was very fast throughout, and lasted forty-seven
minutes, at the end of which the fox went to ground
in Fernworthy Newtake near the spot where he had
been found. The run was in a ring, and the points
touched were Hemstone Rocks, Metherell Bog, Lake-
land, Birch Tor, Caroline Mine, \Miite Ridge and
Assycombe Hill.
A hard day, and one of interest in many respects,
was the 12th September, 1905. The pack met at
7 a.m. at Challacombe, the place after which Mr.
Singer had christened the horse that won the
St. Leger for him the day after that of which I
]VIR. WASHINGTON M. G. SINGER 255
write. That the master was fairly confident of
victory may be inferred from his answer to Mr.
Rendell's question as to when they would meet
again : " Not until after I have won the Leger ! "
A litter of cubs was rattled about Birch Tor and a
mangy one disposed of. Then another, similarly
afflicted, took a ring from Sousand by Warren Inn
and back, and then by Grendon, Cator and Riddon
Mire to Snailshouse and Laughter Tor and back to
Belliver Bridge and Pizwell Bog, where the pack
unluckily changed on to a fresh one, crossed the
Moreton road and ran to Stannon and Hartland Tor,
where, as he was pointing for the bogs, hounds were
stopped. ]\Ir. Rendell had left home that morning
at 4.20 and got back at four o'clock in the after-
noon. This was a hard day so early in the season,
especially for the eight couple of young hounds
out. Only one of these was missing at the end,
and she turned up three hours later. In the course
of the run, the Dart was crossed three times, and the
hounds ran into four countries — the South Devon,
Dartmoor, Mid-Devon and Lamerton.
Another red-letter day, and one that shews that
hounds could give a good account of themselves in
the in-country as well as on the moor, was the 14th
December, 1905, when they met at Huxhams Cross.
The pack literally raced from North Wood across the
Huxhams Cross — Staverton Bridge road, up by the
river to Hood Bridge and Hood Ball, to Velwell and
Higher Velwell, to Long Lane below Three Gates,
past Allerton House, to the left over Whiteley and
back over the brook to Yarner Beacon nearly to
Lownard ; then to Bellamy and up the valley to
Westcombe, on to Cames Do^\ti Barn, into the
Dartmoor country and by Rattery Lane and Bulka-
256 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
more Farm to Luscombe Wood. From there the
pack flew down the valley below Brounston to Velwell
House and Wood Copse to ground. The time was
sixty minutes, and the pace terrific throughout. Mr.
Rendell, who rode two horses, Ladybird and Peter,
almost to a standstill, considers it the fastest in-
country run for the time occupied that he ever saw.
Hounds were several times in the same field with
their fox. It is uncertain whether they changed, but
one may at least doubt whether the stoutest fox
could have stood before them so long at the pace.
The field were " spread-eagled," though some of
them nicked in from time to time at the turns.
Here is a note of a run that Mr. Rendell considers
to have been the best he ever saw — and that is no
faint praise.
Saturday, 10th March, 1906. Manaton. Find in
Luckern Valley. After being headed and getting a
start, the fox makes his point for Eastdon Down,
passes Gratnar and dips down the valley under
Shapeley Farm and over the enclosures to Moor
Gate ; there he turns first left-handed over Shapeley
Common and then to the right and crosses the
Moreton road. Up to this point, hounds have had to
hunt the line over burnt commons and ploughed
fields, flinging themselves for'ard all the time. Now
they are on virgin soil and able to run in earnest.
They fly over Bush Down to the Lakeland valley,
climb Hurston Ridge, leave Fernworthy Newtake to
their right and scream over Stannon and White
Ridge, breaking the wall into Teignhead Newtake
and running by Grey Wethers to Sittaford Tor and
the bogs beyond, as if for Broadmarsh and Fur Tor.
But the pace is too good up-wind, and the fox turns
down the Varracombe bottom to Teignhead Cottage,
MR. WASHINGTON M. G. SINGER 257
crosses the North Teign to Stonetor and Shovel
Down, and is rolled over in the open at Batworthy
close under Kestor Rock. Time, one hour and fifty-
seven minutes. The point, as the crow flies, from
Luckern holts to Stat's Hill is eight miles ; from
Stat's Hill to Batworthy four miles ; as hounds ran,
rather over fourteen.
The finish of this run was just spoilt for most of
the field through the fog that hung in patches and
caused us to miss the hounds when they turned before
the end, with the result that only Messrs. W. R.
Vicary and L. G. Vicary with the huntsman and
second whip were there to see the fox broken up.
Mrs. W. Rendell, riding Old Lol, went well through
this run. Only one hound, little Bertha, was left out,
and she returned to kennels next day.
The most terrific burst that I remember was one of
twenty-two minutes, on the 7th April, 1906, killing
in the open. Those who know the stamina of a
Dartmoor fox will appreciate what that means. This
fox was lying on a naked patch of newly-swaled
ground on Assycombe Hill. Our being over the border
is accounted for by its being the Hunt Week. The
pack got away close to his brush, raced over White
Ridge to Sittaford Tor, turned left-handed, and
killed in Ladle Bottom. Every one, with the excep-
tion of Mr. W. Rendell, was outpaced ; but Mr.
G. H. Hext, riding the chord of the arc, was the first
there to pick up the fox.
The dog pack had a first-rate hunt of an hour and
five minutes, the greater part of which was in the
in-country, on the 11th December, 1906, with one of
a brace found in Whiddon Brake after meeting at
Goodstone Gate. Rushlade and Pensland Valley,
Welstor Farm and Buckland Beacon came in the
258 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
line, which then lay past Newhouse Mire and Bagtor
Mire to Mill Wood and Burchanger ; the pack
then crossed the Bickington road to the Heytor
Hotel, leaving Ilsington Vicarage on the left, and
ran into the fox close to Narrowcombe House.
The runs noted above do not by any means exhaust
those of exceptional excellence, but they suffice as
examples of such as rank as first-class. Many were
the good days, and many the fair days, which, after
all, go to make up the sum of a season's enjoyment.
A unique and somewhat dramatic finish to a fast,
but twisting, run of forty minutes around Heytor,
Rippon Tor, Bagtor and Pinchaford, occurred on the
12th February, 1907. The fox eventually climbed to
the top of the southernmost of the two big rocks at
Heytor and was killed on its very summit.
The presence of wild red deer in Buckland Woods
having again been reported in the year 1903, Mr.
Singer invited Mr. E. A. V. Stanley to bring the
Quantock Staghounds down to hunt them early in
April. Mr. Stanley stayed at Leighon with the
master, and the pack met on the 7th April at the
Heytor Hotel, Ilsington. One stag was roused in
Buckland but quickly vanished, and the rest of the
day was spent in the vain endeavour to find another.
At this time the Moor Week, or South Devon Hunt
Week, which had come into vogue during Dr. Gaye's
mastership, was a flourishing institution at the end of
each season. It has fallen somewhat into desuetude
of recent years, but in Mr. Singer's time it was a very
enjoyable affair. Neighbouring packs, usually the
Dartmoor or the Mid-Devon, came by invitation to
make up, with the South Devon, a full week's hunting
on the moor. Sometimes a pack would come from
further afield. The Cattistock, under Mr. Chandos-
MR. WASHINGTON M. G. SINGER 259
Pole ; the Tremlett, under Sir John Shelley ; the
Exmoor, under Mr. Brunskill, and the Silverton,
under Mr. Pape, and I think also the Lamerton, have
at one time or another added variety to the Week.
These gatherings drew together the keenest men from
the several hunts, and there was just sufficient
friendly rivalry between them to bring out the best
qualities of all. It was a case of :
" Eager and emulous only ; not spiteful,
Grudging no friend tho' ourselves he may beat,
Just enough danger to make sport delightful,
Toil just sufficient to make slumber sweet."
At the beginning of the season 1902-3 certain
correspondence took place between the South Devon
Hunt and the Dartmoor Hunt with reference to the
Curtisknowle coverts and Woodleigh Woods, forming
part of the country formerly hunted by Sir Henry
Scale. Both hunts claimed these particular coverts
as within their borders. In the month of May
following, a meeting took place at Plymouth at
which were present, on behalf of the Dartmoor Hunt,
Mr. Martin and Mr. Mackworth Parker and Mr.
Crake the honorary secretary, and, as representing the
South Devon, Mr. Hext and Mr. W. Rendell. At
this meeting, Sir Henry Scale's letter of the 12th
August, 1846, referred to in an earlier chapter, ^ was
produced and also a letter of the 16th June, 1877,
from Mr. Hare of Curtisknowle to Admiral Parker.
The members of the Dartmoor Hunt relied on these
two letters as proving the claim of that hunt to the
country in question. An arrangement was arrived at,
and Mr. Singer hunted the country in question from
1902 to 1907.
1 See p. 81.
260 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
One of the hardest and best days in this particular
country was the 13th December, 1906, from Curtis-
knowle. The bitch pack found at 12.35 and ran
till 3.15, running twice through the Woodleigh and
Titcombe Woods. All the horses were done up.
In October, 1903, Mr. Lucius Vicary was elected
honorary secretary in succession to Mr. G. H. Hext,
who resigned after having served the hunt for over
twenty years in that capacity. At a dinner given to
Mr. Hext by members of the hunt on the 9th
December, he was presented with a very handsome
silver tea-tray bearing his crest and the legend :
" Presented to George Hawkins Hext by Members of
the South Devon Hunt as a memento of his valuable
services as Honorary Secretary from 1883-1903."
Mr. Singer made himself much liked by everyone
connected with the hunt. His manner with his field
was ever quiet and courteous, though he could be
firm when occasion arose. On the only occasion on
which I ever heard him " blow up " anybody, he
happened to pitch upon the wrong man, who, how-
ever, readily adopted the master's suggestion of
setting off the reprimand against some other occasion
when it had doubtless been well earned.
Some followers of the pack have already been
named in' these pages. The following additions to
the field occurred during the decade 1897-1907.
Major S. Belfield, who rented Ogwell for two or three
years ; Miss Brereton, Mr. C. M. Barran, Miss Barran,
Mr. A. Densham, Mr. Leigh Densham, for many years
master of the Dart Vale Harriers, and Mrs. L.
Densham, Mr. J. F. G. Froes, Mr. G. M. Fleming,
Major Jephson, Mr. and Mrs. Hodgkinson, and Mr. W.
Barnes (on the Haldon side) ; Mr. F. Hemstead,
Captain Alers Hankey and Mrs. Hankey, Mr. H. E.
MR. WASHINGTON M. G. SINGER 261
Alers Hankey, Miss Hankey, Captain J. G. B. Leth-
bridge, always in front despite the loss of the whole
of his right arm ; Mr. F. S. B. Lethbridge, Messrs.
J. A. MacLellan, Mann, R. W. Matthew, R. Menneer,
H. B. Peacock, the Hon. Mrs. Jervoise-Smith, Mrs.
Cave-Penny, Mrs. Froude, Colonel Patch and his son
Mr. J. Patch, Captain Phillpotts, r.n., Messrs. C. J.
Swears, F. Wilkins and E. W. Scratton. The last-
named became later master of the Haldon Harriers.
All was going merrily and well, when the news of
Mr. Singer's resignation came upon the hunt with the
suddenness of a thunderclap. It was known that his
doctor had insisted upon his wintering abroad instead
of hunting during the season 1906-7 ; but the master
had expressed the hope and belief, which was shared
by all, that he would be able to take the field again
the following year. His decision to give up at the
end of the season was received in the latter part of
February, 1907, and the committee at once cabled in
reply begging him to reconsider it. This, to the great
regret of all, he was unable to do, and at a well-
attended meeting of the members held on the 13th
March, 1907, a resolution was unanimously passed
accepting with the greatest regret Mr. Singer's
resignation of the mastership and thanking him most
earnestly for the very efficient manner in which he
had carried out his duties as master. The resolution
went on to say that the members present desired, on
behalf of the whole hunt, to express their gratitude
for his most generous and sportsmanlike conduct in
hunting the country as he had done, and the sincere
wish of one and all for his speedy and permanent
recovery of good health. It was also then and there
decided to make him a presentation in recognition of
his able and generous services as master. Accord-
262 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
ingly, in due course, on the 8th October, 1907, the
presentation was made by Lord CHfford at a dinner
given to Mr. Singer by the members at the Globe
Hotel at Ne\\i:on Abbot, at which Mr. Robert Vicary,
Mr. Singer's former colleague and at that time chair-
man of the hunt committee, presided.
The gift consisted of a very beautiful silver Augs-
burg cup with the inscription : " Presented to
Washington M. G. Singer, Esquire, on his retirement
from the Mastership of the South Devon Foxhounds,
by the Members of the Hunt as a token of their
regard and esteem. July, 1907. "^
Many complimentary things were said about the
retiring master and the speeches were obviously
sincere, for there was no mistaking the genuine and
universal regret at parting with one who had served
the hunt so well.
^ The presentation was originaUy fixed for July.
MR. AND MRS. H. F. BRUNSKILL AND THE PACK
riiutj by Elliot ami Fry
To face page -263
CHAPTER XXII
MR.'*HUBERT F. BRUNSKILL : 1907-13
Terms of agreement to hvmt the country — Brings his own pack — Mr. Singer's
Hounds sold at Rugby — Mr. Brunskill : a Devonshire man — Early days —
Successively master of the Exmoor and the Silverton — As a huntsman —
His hounds — Interest in the Kennel — Success at shows — Favourite blood
— A large young entry — Viceroy — Develops Sir Henry Scale's old country
— Permission to the Haldon Harriers to hunt foxes on Haldon — Loans of
country : Haldon to the Silverton ; Canonteign to the Mid-Devon —
Hunt ball inaugurated — Agrees to hunt the country for a fvu*ther five
years — Mrs. Brunskill : her knowledge of the sport ; leads the field —
Mr. L. G. Vicary succeeded by Major Cobham as hon. sec. — An admirable
secretary — Roger Hannaford — Notes of sport — Good runs — Disaffection
in the hunt — Harmony restored — Change in the constitution of the hunt
— New rules adopted — The master resigns — Presentation to Mr. and Mrs.
Brunskill — Sale of hounds.
" ' Pray, gentlemen, restrain your pace.
Do give my hounds a little space.
Just room to turn ; pray check your rein.
Then catch them if you can again.'
'V^ain is the prayer : 'twere easier far
To stem the rolling tide of war."
(Dartmoor Days.)
IT SO happened that Mr. Singer's resignation co-
incided with that of Mr. Brunskill, who had just
completed one season as master of the Silverton.
Mr. Brunskill then offered to hunt the South Devon
country two days a week on a guarantee of £500
per annum (which sum was to include all field
expenses) and kennels rent-free, with a stipulation
that a five-shilling " cap " for non - subscribers
should be established. On those terms he was
elected master at a general meeting held on the 13th
March, 1907. The hunt was thus fortunate in
264 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
avoiding an interregnum. As Mr. Brunskill brought
his own pack of hounds, Mr. Singer disposed of his
at Rugby in the spring.
The new master was a Devonshire man and no
stranger to the country. His own property, Buckland-
Tout-Saints, is situated within its Hmits, and, though
hunting mostly with the Dartmoor when at home, he
had often been one of a South Devon field. He was
also well known throughout the county as a good
cricketer, having taken up the game with enthusiasm
first at Clifton College and afterwards at Exeter
College, Oxford. Hunting came as a natural instinct
to him, for he first began to follow hounds at the age
of seven years, and never afterwards lost an oppor-
tunity of getting out with any pack that happened to
be within his reach. His earliest experience of carry-
ing the horn was acquired with a pack of beagles
when a boy ; later, he kept and hunted the South
Pool Harriers. In 1905 he became master of the
Exmoor Foxhounds and in the following season
transferred his pack to the Silverton country. Being
young and keen, he naturally hunted the hounds
himself and continued to do so when he came to the
South Devon.
It is not given to every young huntsman, who is a
light-weight and a good rider, to restrain his impetu-
osity and a natural ambition to right his hounds
quickly when at fault ; but Mr. Brunskill was more
partial to letting his hounds hunt the line than to
casting them, being, perhaps, of the same opinion as
the old Irish huntsman who rebuked his young
master with the remark : " My lord, the most
ignorant young hound in the pack knows a great
deal more about hunting than you or I." As a
consequence, Mr. Brunskill's hounds were expert at
1
MR. HUBERT F. BRUNSKILL 265
extricating themselves from difficulties without assist-
ance, which, in a country like ours, is of great import-
ance. This does not mean that Mr. Brunskill did not
always lead his field — and not infrequently outpaced
them altogether on the moor — but there are times
in most countries (and they occur often in Devon-
shire) when, from the nature of the country, the
pack gets out of reach of its huntsman, however
resolute a rider he may be.
Another essential quality, one that Mr. Milne puts
as the first requisite in a hound, is tongue, and this
the pack had in a marked degree. When at fault, the
master let his hounds cast themselves in silence, so
that, when out of his reach, they did not miss the
words of encouragement indulged in by some prac-
titioners. He had a good voice and his note on the
horn was remarkable for tone and power and variety
of expression. I do not think I ever heard a better
performer, not even excepting the late Charles Little-
worth.
The master took tremendous interest in his kennel
and had that enviable quality " a good eye " for a
hound. He was a regular visitor to Peterborough and
always sought for the best blood obtainable with a
view to building up a really good pack of hounds. In
this he certainly succeeded, and the proof may be
found in the prices realized when the pack came to
be sold. To accomplish this, however, a strong body
of young hounds is necessary, and there is always
the risk of their number being kept up to the detri-
ment of that of the third and fourth season hunters.
Mr. Brunskill did well at the West of England
Hound Show held at Exeter in 1912. The entries
were open to the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Devon,
Cornwall, Hampshire, Gloucester and Wiltshire, and
266 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
the competition was keen, the following kennels
being represented : Blackmore Vale, Mr. Scott
Brown's, East Devon, South Devon, South Dorset,
Eggesford, West Somerset and V.W.H. (Cricklade).
The South Devon won a first with Trophy, two
seconds with Viceroy, a second with Viceroy and
Benedict, a second with Speedy and Sunflower, and
a second with Gaylass and Gaily. Always, as Mr.
Brunskill says, not quite good enough to win, but
always quite good enough in their work.
The pack averaged in number from forty-three
couple and a half to forty-six couple and a half. The
master kept up its strength by breeding extensively,
having recourse chiefly to the blood of the Brocklesby,
Badminton and Atherstone kennels and, later, that
of the Cattistock.
At his first puppy- judging in February, 1908,
thirty-two couple and a half out of forty -two couple
put out to walk came under the eye of the judges,
Mr. Unwin (Tiverton) and Captain Kinglake (Taunton
Vale). Of these, nine couple were by the Brocklesby
dogs Dealer (1904) or Vanguard (1904). A good-
looking son of the latter, named Pirate, from Passion,
a charming bitch from the South Cheshire kennels,
took first prize for dogs. Lavender, by the Tiverton
Sportsman out of Likely from the Wentworth, was
considered the best of the bitches.
Probably the best hound Mr. Brunskill bred while
he had the South Devon, was Viceroy (1911), by
Vagabond (1909). The last-named was by the
notorious Atherstone Villager (1902). Viceroy was
an excellent dog to hunt and, as has already been
seen, was no discredit to the kennel at a hound show.
Besides winning many prizes, he got a lot of good
whelps. Lord Furness of the York and Anisby
MR. HUBERT F. BRUNSKILL 267
bought Viceroy at the Rugby sale and has had great
success with him.
Although only pledged to two days a week, the
new master, like his predecessor, hunted three days
regularly. Mr. Singer had renewed the cultivation
of the lower side of the country, " Sir Henry Scale's
old country " as it is sometimes called. That being
Mr. Brunskill's home country, he very naturally set
himself to develop it, and the extra day, the Thursday,
generally found hounds in that part. With such a
wide territory at his disposal, Mr. Brunskill had no
use for the Haldon side, and, accordingly, the com-
mittee, subject to certain safeguards, acceded to the
request of the then master of the Haldon Harriers,
Mr. Ernest Studd, a son of Mr. E. F. Studd of Oxton,
to be allowed to keep the foxes moving on Haldon.
From one cause and another, the harriers did not
make much use of the permission, and in January,
1909, the Haldon side was formally loaned by the
year to the Silverton Hunt, then under the joint-
mastership of Messrs. C. L. Wilcocks and H. G. Rew
and hunted by Mr. A. G. Pape, who, a few years
later, succeeded those gentlemen in the mastership.
This arrangement has been renewed annually from
that time to the present, a reservation of a right for
the South Devon to draw the Lindridge, Luscombe
and Ugbrooke coverts being occasionally inserted, but
never yet acted upon. As the Silverton did not want
that part of the Haldon country that lies west of the
River Teign, this portion, which comprised the
Hennock and Canonteign country, was in 1910
loaned for a year to the Mid-Devon, of which Colonel
Carter was at that time master, and the loan has from
time to time been renewed. Colonel Carter was also
to be allowed what some would consider the rather
268 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
questionable privilege of drawing Lustleigh Cleave
from time to time by arrangement with Mr. Brunskill.
A new departure, originating with the new master,
was the inauguration of a Hunt Ball, which has since
become a regular annual institution and is held
sometimes at Newton Abbot and sometimes at
Torquay.
At the end of Mr. Brunskill's first season, the hunt
found itself in the unwonted position of having a
sum of £100 to the good. With a prodigality that
the committee had cause to repent at the end of
the following season, when the normal condition
of affairs, shewing a considerable deficit, was restored,
this sum was handed to the master on the understand-
ing that he would continue to hunt the country for
another five seasons.
Mrs. Brunskill was a valuable ally of her husband
and of great assistance to him both in and out of the
field. She was a dashing rider and a good horse-
woman, qualities not necessarily inseparable, and,
in addition, she knew every point in the game, and
was far quicker than most of the field at seeing what
should be done and doing it. All this, without ever
detracting from that womanliness that, say what
they will, in their hearts men love. A soft word and
a gentle smile from her smoothed many a ruffled
feather. Although handicapped by having to wear
glasses, she always managed to keep in the first
flight. This was particularly noticeable on a certain
occasion when the pack raced a fox to death in
twenty-three minutes from Bag Park to Beetor,
under the bewildering conditions of a thick fog and a
blinding snowstorm in our faces all the way. The
pack and the master were soon out of sight, and the
rest of the field were glad to follow Mrs. Brunskill's
MR. HUBERT F. BRUNSKILL 269
lead, wondering the while how she managed to keep
it. Mr. Brunskill's son and daughter have inherited
their parents' love of the chase and receive every
encouragement in its indulgence.
In the year 1910, owing to increasing business
demands on the time of the honorary secretary, Mr.
L. G. Vicary, who had done excellent service since his
appointment to the post, Mrs. Brunskill was ap-
pointed to act as his assistant. Two years later this
arrangement was superseded, on the retirement of
Mr. L. G. Vicary, by the appointment of Major H. W.
Cobham to the office. Major Cobham had only been
a comparatively short time in the country and had
settled at Ashburton. He hunted regularly himself
and soon got into touch with all classes in the hunt.
There is generally a difficulty in getting a man of
leisure to find time for anything, but the new
honorary secretary was an exception. Besides being
businesslike, he was thorough and tactful and made
an admirable secretary.
One of the familiars of the hunt for many years was
old Roger Hannaford, a labourer on the Buckland
Estate, who looked after the earthstopping on that
side of the moor. He wore an old pink coat and a
velvet hunting-cap, and when long past seventy years
of age would walk many miles to meet hounds, and
many more in charge of the terriers during the day,
returning home on foot after the sport was over. It
was wonderful how he would turn up when the
terriers were wanted and when one thought he had
been left miles away. He always attended the
keeper's dinner, and ate everything with his knife,
which he handled with the dexterity of a juggler.
There was an awful fascination in watching the
performance. Once I thought he was stumped when
270 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
a plateful of very juicy rhubarb tart was set before
him, but the knife only flashed the faster in and out
of his lips. It was rather a relief that soup was not
included in the menu. Poor old Roger died in
February, 1911, aged eighty, and over his grave in
the little country churchyard at Leusdon the members
of the South Devon erected a tombstone " To com-
memorate many years of faithful service in pursuit
of sport."
There was abundance of good sport during Mr.
Brunskill's mastership ; the best of it, as always in
modern times, was on the moor, but there were also
some good in-country runs when a fox was forth-
coming on a tolerable scenting day, a combination
never too frequent. The following brief notes will
give an idea of some of the good days, of which
there were many more than it is possible to notice
here.
1907, November 5th. Grendon. After putting one
to ground, found an old dog-fox on Grendon Common ;
took a big turn round Grendon Lodge and went away
over Riddon Mire, Riddon Ridge, Belliver Tor,
Smith's Hill, Prince Hall, Tor Royal Newtake and
the Turf-ties and killed in Tor Royal Plantation after
one hour and thirty minutes. An eight-mile point.
Sir Henry Scale's old country was the scene of an
excellent in-country hunt on the 19th December in
the same year, when the pack met at Capton. A
quick find below Dreyton resulted in a short run to
Capton Water, where complications put an end to
the pursuit. Then followed a run from Capton into
Coombe, Kingston Brakes by Capton Village to
Dreyton and Oldstone ; from there to Dinnicombe
and on to Blackawton Forces and Allaleigh, and the
fox, an old vixen, went to ground in a rabbit hole on
DRAWING ON DARTMOOR
1^
St.'
i
^^p.
UNDER BIRCH TOR
To face page 271
MR. HUBERT F. BRUNSKILL 271
Mr. Baker's farm, whence she was soon taken out.
The run occupied an hour and twenty-five minutes.
On Christmas Eve, 1907, a slow but pretty hunt
of one hour and forty minutes in the locahty of
Storridge and Curtisknowle, with a very poor scent,
resulted in a kill near Gara Bridge. This was by no
means a great or good run, but one to rejoice the
heart of the master and test the patience and per-
severance of the lady pack.
Many a good run fails only of being great for want
of being straightened out. Of such was the run of an
hour and twenty-five minutes from Challacombe on
the 20th March, 1909, the points touched being
Blackaton, King's Head, Coal Mires, Hamildon
Beacon and John Hannaford's at Headland ; Challa-
combe and Blackaton again, and then Biddlecombe
Down and Avychurch, where the master had the
satisfaction of handling his fox.
As a contrast to the above, a nine-mile point was
scored ten days later when the pack opened the
South Devon Hunt Week at New Bridge. Hounds
got away on the back of a fox from Yar Tor, ran over
Corndon Tor to Corndonford, over Jordan and back
to Yar Tor, then away to Baveney and Snails House,
past Belliver Bridge, and by Runnage Common to
Caroline Bog in the Mid-Devon country, on over
Merripit Hill and Water Hill to Chagford Common,
and marked him to ground in a rabbit-hole at
Hurston Farm. Time, one hour and fifteen minutes.
Widdicombe-in-the-Moor kept up its reputation for
good sport on the 3rd April following. A " tough old
campaigner " from the side of Hamildon opposite
Challacombe piloted the pack, by way of Hookner
Tor, Birch Tor, Shapeley Common and Durston to
Beetor Brake and thence into Chagford. He left this
272 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
by way of Mr. Hayter Hames's, Chagford House,
returned over the golf links to Beetor, and was run
into at the lower end of Chagford Common. The run
lasted two and three-quarter hours, but the first part
was very fast.
The Roister Bridge fixture supplied an old-
fashioned in-country hunt of three hours and a half
on the 25th November, 1909. Found at Windeatt's
Brake, ran hard round Crabbaton Gate, Horner
Down and Plantations, back to Ashwell and round
to where they found, and then on to Wagland and
put him to ground in a drain opposite Mr. Simpson's
Brake.
Another first-rate day in the lower part of the
country was the 14th December in the same year,
when the field mustered at Cornworthy. The first
fox was disturbed in Capton Brake, took the pack at
a good pace all round the brakes, across the bottom
in the valley and through Broadridge Wood to the
Farm and was run into in the valley below. Another
fox, from AUaleigh, went away by the village nearly
to Blackawton Forces and on to Blackdown and
Boston Farm, and from there to Horner and Curtis-
knowle, and hounds were whipped off at Weeldon to
avoid disturbing the Thursday's draw. A point of
seven miles and a half, and the whole nineteen
couple up.
Something like a five-mile point in twenty-eight
minutes, as straight as possible from Shapeley Tor to
Kestor Rock, was a brilliant finish to a good day's
sport on the 5th March, 1910. The morning had
been spent among the rabbit-holes of Headland and
Challacombe Warrens and the rocks of Grimspound
and Birch Tor, resulting in a kill at Vitafer. It was a
long ride home for all of us from Kestor.
MR. HUBERT F. BRUNSKILL 273
By way of a holiday treat for the Newton folk, the
pack met in the market-place of that town on the 3rd
January, 1911. A capital in-country hunt of two
hours and fifty minutes resulted. The country
covered was from Custreet over Ingsdon and round
to New Inn again, then by Bickington and Half Way
House and Gale to Down Copse, on to Rising Sun and
Woodland, then by Knowle and Beacon Hill to Cappa
Dollar, Rock Park, Clennons, Dornafield and Rydon,
where the fox beat the pack.
Despite the proximity of Lustleigh Cleave, Manaton
often produces a good run, and this was the case on
the 11th March, 1911, the fox being found on Hayne
Down. He first went to ground in Blissamore Rocks,
but bolted at once of his own accord, and then ran
over Hayne Down to Heatree, through the planta-
tions to Jay's Grave, over the enclosures past Hedge
Barton to Honey Bag Tor, being killed in the open at
Bunhill — one hour and five minutes with no check.
The master had a nasty fall on Heatree Down, his
horse stepping on his face, but he was soon going and
in his accustomed place again.
A good in-country hunt, from the point of view of
the field, who are not much concerned with the
absence of blood at the end, was that of the 30th
December, 1911. Found in Custreet and ran by
Staplehill, Moor Farm, Hobbin Wood, Bearah, and
Parsonage Farm to Metley Moors, Nordon and
Denbury Down ; thence to Wrenwell, Clennons,
Stollage Common, Dornafield and Ogwell Rectory,
where the fox ran them out of scent. This was a slow
hunt of two-and-a-half hours, and everyone was able
to see it and to be with the pack all through.
The run of the 6th April, 1912, was a particularly
brilliant one, notwithstanding the wind, which was
274 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
blowing hard. The pack raced a fox from Runnage
Common across the lower end of Caroline Bog to Tom
Hext's gullies, up the Sousand wall, turned left to
the mines and Birch Tor, down to Headland and over
Hookner Tor, through Coombe enclosures to Coombe
Farm, running under King Tor to Heathercombe,
and killed him in the pond at Heatree after fifty-eight
minutes.
Many other days there were, as good as, and better
than, the above, but my aim has been to pick out
runs typical of the sport in-country and " out over."
One that must not be overlooked took place on the
15th February, 1913. Taking Hookner Tor and Birch
Tor on his way, a fox from Hamildon, opposite
Challacombe, crossed the Moreton road, and, after
leading the field over the good ground of Stannon
and Hartland, went on to Broadamarsh and the bogs
beyond, making a point of seven miles and a distance
of nine as hounds ran. The master stopped hounds
at Broadamarsh at 4.40.
A small cloud is sometimes the forerunner of a
severe storm. In the beginning of the year 1912, the
foundations of the hunt were rudely shaken by a
quarrel which owed its origin to a comparatively
trivial matter, and which, but for misunderstandings,
would never have occurred.
Some dissatisfaction had arisen from the lack of
sport in the in-country during the previous season or
two. The fact was admitted by the master as well as
the members ; but while he attributed the cause to
the lack of foxes, there were those among the field
who ascribed it to the fact that hounds seldom visited
the region in question. Undoubtedly there was some
reason on both sides, for the alleged causes were such
as to react upon each other. If a master naturally
MR. HUBERT F. BRUNSKILL 275
fights shy of a region which he thinks to be devoid of
foxes, so owners of coverts will not preserve foxes in
a country rarely visited by hounds. Had the matter
stopped there, it would have been capable of adjust-
ment. Unfortunately, it is to be feared that a few
individuals, for reasons of their own, were ready to
seize the opportunity of trying to oust the master,
who, on his side, failed to locate the masked battery,
and conceived the idea that the attack came from the
committee. In this he was quite mistaken. From
the first, the committee refused to be a party to any
unhandsome treatment of him and acted throughout
with all fairness, though some of the master's
supporters displayed more loyalty than tact. Letters
and reports of meetings appeared in the local papers
under such headings as " Friction in the Hunt " and
" Hunting men at loggerheads." The farmers of the
hunt, good and honest fellows averse from any
intrigue, stood by Mr. Brunskill to a man. Ultimately,
owing in a great measure to the judicious action and
conciliatory attitude of the committee, harmony was
once more restored ; Mr. Brunskill's resignation was
withdrawn, and he consented to continue in office.
Much of the difficulty experienced in settling these
unfortunate differences arose from the lack of proper
constitutions defining the membership of the hunt
and determining the respective powers of members
and committee. Certain isolated rules had been
passed from time to time, but they had no relation to
one another, were sometimes inconsistent and had
become practically a dead letter. An attempt at a
remedy was made by Mr. F. C. Simpson of Maypool,
Churston Ferrers, one of the most enthusiastic
members of the hunt, as is also his daughter
Miss Simpson. He proposed a resolution, designed to
276 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
define the membership and to alter the mode of
election of the committee, and this was passed at a
general meeting. The attempt was well-intentioned,
but the resolution did not go far enough to make the
scheme workable. The committee then set to work
to draw up a comprehensive code of rules. These
were thoroughly threshed out, first in committee and
afterwards by the members in general meeting. The
result was the code of rules that, as slightly amended
during the following year, will be found in one of the
appendices.^ These rules are by no means perfect ;
in particular, the constitution of the hunt is not
framed upon the best lines possible. It was, in fact,
felt to be inexpedient, in view of the existing trouble,
to depart more than was absolutely necessary from
the lines of Mr. Simpson's scheme, so far as concerned
the qualifications for membership and election of
committee, and the hunt contented itself with placing
its affairs and management upon a workable footing.
The soreness that had been engendered soon passed
off, for the master was the last man in the world to
nurture ill-will, even where he had reason to consider
that in some quarters his treatment had been un-
generous ; while, on the other hand, all recognized
that he was a thorough sportsman and good fellow,
and that his very outspokenness, at which some took
umbrage, was the surest proof of his honesty of
purpose. It was with this feeling, and with the
sense of the indebtedness of the hunt to Mr. Brun-
skill for six seasons' good sport and to Mrs. Brun-
skill for her help in the good cause, that the members
presented them with a very handsome silver cup,
when at the end of the season 1912-13, the master
definitely decided to retire. The presentation was
* See appendix B.
MR. HUBERT F. BRUNSKILL 277
made in a neat speech by the honorary secretary.
Major Cobham, on behalf of the members.
Mr. Brunskill sold his hounds at Rugby with the
exception of the bitches and whelps, which were
disposed of privately. The total figure realized was
one thousand and nine guineas. Lord Furness, at
Rugby, bought three lots of two couple each for
seventy, fifty-five and fifty-five guineas respectively,
and two lots of two couple and a half each for sixty-
five and fifty-three guineas respectively; and Mr.
Morel gave fifty guineas for another lot of two couple
and a half to go to France.
Mr. Brunskill's passion for hounds, however, was
only to be kept in check for a short time, as will
appear in the next chapter.
CHAPTER XXIII
MAJOR J. A. COOKE HURLE: 1913-15
Strangers in the land — A Westcountryman — Ex-master of the Lamerton
and New Forest Hounds — Returns to Devonshire with his own pack —
Settles at Holne Cross, Ashburton — Hiintsman as well as naaster —
Activity, judgment and tact — Mrs. H\irle — Unpleasant adventure —
Success at Exeter Hound Show — Agreement to waive guarantee — Renews
loan of Haldon side to the Silverton — Sport during first season — Bad
weather — Best in-country run of the season — Loan of Kingsbridge
country to Mr. Brunskill — Second season — Guarantee — Resignation of
the hon. sec. — Outbreak of the war — Gloomy outlook — Determination
to keep the hunt going — Master's entire stud taken for the Army —
Rejoins his regiment — Generous act of Messrs. W. and H. Whitley — Polo
ponies for the hunt stables — Mr. Simpson appointed deputy-master —
Reeves as huntsman — Creditable performance of his duties — Accident to
Mr. W. R. Vicary — Resignation of the master — Resolution passed by
the hunt.
" Of manly form and courteovie mden,
Scarce fifty summers has he seen ;
He scans the field with rapid view.
And notes an absent friend or two ;
Though strict to time, he loves to yield
A margin to his tardy field."
(Dartmoor Days.)
ALTHOUGH Devonshire folk are notoriously
- clannish and profess a poor opinion of " foreign-
ers " from other counties, a stranger, once settled in
Devon, is soon forgiven his nationality and received,
so to speak, into the family, provided he attunes his
mind and manners to those of the inhabitants.
It is a noticeable fact that of all the masters of the
South Devon since its foundation, only two, Mr. Ross
and Major Cooke Hurle, have come from outside the
278
MAJOR COOKE HURLE
To face page 278
MAJOR J. A. COOKE HURLE 279
county, all the others being Devonians by either
birth or adoption. Yet the two masters named are
not to be classed together, for was not Major Cooke
Hurle, who hailed from Somerset, a Westcountryman
born, and had he not for four seasons been master of
a Devonshire pack, the Lamerton, which he left in
1910 ? So that, when, after some brief negotiations,
he came back to the county as the newly elected
master of the South Devon, in succession to Mr.
Brunskill, it never occurred to anyone to look upon
him as a stranger.
After leaving the Lamerton and taking a year's
rest from the labours of office as M.F.H., Major Cooke
Hurle, in conjunction with his brother, now Lieut. -
Colonel E. F. Cooke Hurle, took the mastership of
the New Forest Hounds. When, in 1913, he came
back to Devonshire from the New Forest, he brought
with him a pack of thirty-five couple, composed
partly of drafts from his two former packs, and en-
gaged F. Reeves as kennel-huntsman and first whip.
For want of a house nearer the kennels, the new
master settled at Holne Cross, Ashburton. He was
not long in making his presence felt in the country
and in getting to know and to be known by the
people, who were won over at once by his frank
manner and kindly consideration.
It was soon found that the hunt had a huntsman
as well as a master in Major Cooke Hurle. With his
previous experience of hunting hounds and a ready
eye and memory for picking up a new and intricate
country, he began at once to shew good sport.
Although about fifty years of age, the new master
had the appearance and the activity of a much
younger man. He had a workmanlike pack full of
hunting qualities and he placed great reliance on his
280 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
hounds ; but when he helped them he was quick
about it, and made his cast with judgment and
decision. He was a good rider and had a surprising
way of getting to his hounds in a country where that
is never very easy. Ever courteous with his field, he
was never ruffled, even by the disappointments and
aggravations that beset a huntsman's path.
Mrs. Hurle shared her husband's love of the sport
and was a frequent member of the field. She had
had her share of hunting in other countries, and her
experiences included the unpleasant one of being
pinned down under water by her horse with a broken
collar-bone !
The master's desire to have a working pack did not
lead him to neglect appearances, as is shewn by his
taking several prizes at Exeter Hound Show in July,
1914, including a first with Madcap in the restricted
class for dogs and a first with Gaiety and Gracious,
both by Viceroy, in the class for unentered bitches.
Major Cooke Hurle agreed to hunt the country two
days a week ; as a matter of fact, he put in a third
day regularly throughout his first season, and would
have continued to do so in his second season had
circumstances permitted. Nevertheless, he very
generously waived any guarantee for the first year
on the understanding that the hunt would pay
kennel rent and all field expenses and hand over any
balance of the year's subscriptions to him. Having
country enough for his three days without the
Haldon side, the loan of that side to the Silverton
was renewed.
Of the sport during Major Cooke Hurle's first
season the following will give an idea.
Before the regular season began, the pack gave an
example of its hunting powers by killing an old dog-
MAJOR J. A. COOKE HURLE 281
fox, with only a moderate scent to help, after a
twisting run of two hours. The starting-point was
Blackaton Xewtake and the hunt took place on and
around Hamildon and ended close to North Bovey
Church. This was on the 16th October.
The season was characterized by very bad weather,
including much fog and almost continuous rain and
wild winds which interfered considerably with hunt-
ing. Nevertheless, there were days when good
average sport was obtained. Thus, on the opening
day, 1st November, at Shinners Bridge, a field of a
hundred and thirty had a thirty-seven minutes' run
from Peakes Copse with a kill in the open near Sand-
well House ; on the 24th of the same month, a two-
hours' run resulted from Hamildon Beacon ; at
^yiddicombe on the 29th a good run from Coal
Mire by Bag Park, Dunstone Do^^ti and Shallow-
ford Farm, under Corndon Tor and over Sherberton
Common to Mel Tor to ground ; a day of many short
scurries from He\i:or \Miite Gate on the 2nd
December ; a busy day on the 6th at Alston Cross ;
a quick and straight gallop from Bag Park with a
kill on Holwell Tor on the 13th and a long hunting
run from near Kincrstone on the 17th finishing near
East Down Cross, ten miles below Totnes. On the
20th December, a quick thing from Yarner to Lust-
leigh Cleave was followed by an excellent run of
something like twelve miles with a point of seven
miles, from Leighon to Buckland Beacon, Holne
Chase and Gallantry Bower. The fox went below,
but was bolted and killed. Boxing Day, when the
pack met at the Moorland Hotel, was a very hard
day for hounds and horses. One fox was put to
ground, another killed and a third lost.
Among other enjoyable days were the follo^^^ing :
282 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
January 26th. A very fast twenty minutes from
Sharpham into the Dartmoor country to ground.
January 27th. Alston Cross : from Halsanger Mire
by Horridge, Bagtor Wood, Rippon Tor and Venton
Mire to ground in Pixie Pits in the morning. Then a
twisting run, covering some ten miles, in the locality
of Bagtor Wood, Heytor, Yarner, Pinchaford and
Halsanger, a change of foxes spoiling the finish.
January 31st. A first-rate day from Sherril over and
around Hamildon and the surrounding country, with
more than one fox and ending with a kill.
Probably the best in-country run of this season,
though it lacked the desired finish, was one that took
place on the 5th February w^hen the pack met at
Blagdon Barton and found in the little covert below
the Totnes road. The line taken was over Higher
Blagdon, through Mr. Mudge's coverts and those of
Mr. Winser, left-handed to Wildwoods and Wester-
land and thence to Aptor, over the road above
Marldon Church to Brownscombe and Compton and
on to WrigwTll. Difficulties arose here through the
fox being headed and subsequently climbing the face
of the quarry, and the pace slackened to Bulley
Barton and Dainton Hill and Kerswell Down. Up
to this point the run had lasted one hour and twenty
minutes and the distance w^as seven miles between the
extreme points and probably ten as hounds ran.
Slow hunting followed, and the run finished at the
earth by Paignton Reservoir.
On the 7th February the pack killed a brace in the
Yarner district after putting in some useful work,
and, on the 19th, had a good in-country hunt in the
Dundridge and Sharpham country.
The perseverance of the pack was well tested on
the 24th when hounds ran for three-and-a-half hours
MAJOR J. A. COOKE HURLE 283
round and round on the rocky ground between Mel
Tor, Dartmeet and Sherril, " And I think," says the
master, " at last drowned our fox in the Dart."
The in-country hunting finished on the 7th March
with a good hunting run from Shinners Bridge.
During this montli hunting on the moor was twice
interrupted by heavy falls of snow. In the intervals
some good sport fell to the lot of the pack, notably, a
good hunt from Halsanger on the 17th ; a fast twenty
minutes from Cator Gate to ground opposite Brimpts
on the 26th, followed on the same day by a five-and-a-
quarter mile point in thirty minutes after working up
to a fox at Headland Warren that had obtained a
start from liang^'orthy Mire ; and minor successes
on other days.
With better weather towards the end of the season
(rough weather is more hurtful to sport on Dartmoor
than elsewhere) matters improved. Two capital
runs were recorded on the 11th and 13th April, the
first of an hour and twenty-five minutes in the
Widdicombe country, including an incursion into
Mid-Devon territory ; the other, a hunting run of
three hours, from Reddaford Water with a Yarner
fox whose itinerary included Heytor, Leighon, Becky,
Bowerman's Xose, Manaton Rocks, the whole length
of Xeadon Cleave and Lustleigh Cleave, Houndtor
Wood, Trendlebere Down, Smallacombe Rocks and
Pinchaford. Here a fresh fox took up the running
by Halsanger Mire and Bagtor Mire, where the pack
was stopped.
The Widdicombe fixture was responsible for the
run of the season on the 25th April. Hounds get
away on the back of a good Dartmoor fox on the top
of King Tor, race by Coombe through Liapa to
Shapeley Tor, then over the Moreton road to Lake-
284 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
land and Metherall Mire, break the Fern worthy WalU
rattle over the good going of Assycombe to Tom's
Hill, and scream over the sound grass of Whiteridge,
through Grey Wethers Mires to the gate into Teign-
head Newtake. From here they press on to Sittaford
Tor and Verracombe, and ever onward to Quintius
Man and Whitehorse Hill, where they catch a view,
and, after a turn down the hill, roll their fox over in
the open hard by Teignhead Farmhouse. Time, just
one hour, and every hound up. Owing to burnt
ground and other difficulties, the pack had to be
helped in the early stages of the run, but, thanks to
the master's handling, no time was lost. Mr. Hayter-
Hames and Mr. Raleigh Phillpotts, both unquestion-
ably qualified judges, speak of this run as the best
they ever saw on the moor.
A cheery gallop brought the season to a close on
the 2nd of May. The pack met at Widdicombe and
the run began at Sousand Warren. To Runnage
Farm first, then over the Moreton road, by Caroline
Bog to Hartland Tor, over the East Dart and away
nearly to Cut Hill, where we were all pounded by the
bogs.
At the end of the season 1913-14, Mr. Brunskill,
to whose well-being a pack of hounds is apparently
a necessity, applied for a loan of the lower part of the
country, and although Major Cooke Hurle had not
neglected that district and did not want to lose it,
he felt that a separate pack would be better able to
do it justice, and therefore, in the spirit of a true
sportsman, consented to the loan being made by the
committee. Some particulars concerning this pack,
and telling how Mrs. Brunskill took command when
her husband joined the Army, will be found at the
end of the last chapter in this book.
MAJOR J. A. COOKE HURLE 285
Such was the success of Major Cooke Hurle's first
season, that the committee had no hesitation in
acceding to his reasonable demand for a guarantee
of £350, in addition to kennel rent and usual field
expenses amounting to some £250 more, as a
term of his continuance in office. It is true that
the master had, perhaps, less reason to be satisfied
with the country than the hunt had cause to be
pleased with him. For he was naturally inclined to
measure things by the standard he was used to in the
New Forest, where funds and foxes are plentiful,
whereas the South Devon Hunt is content to make
the most it can of a small supply of either commodity,
and to remain undismayed by a record of eleven
blank days in a season. One cause of regret there
was, common both to master and hunt, in the loss,
at the end of the season 1913-14, of the company and
the services of the honorary secretary. Major Cobham,
whose appointment under Government in connection
with the supply of Army horses, coupled with the
educational needs of his family, necessitated his
moving to a larger centre. He was an admirable
secretary, and it was impossible to find anyone at the
moment to take his place. With this exception, all
looked promising and well for the coming season, and
none dreamt of the appalling catastrophe that was
about to fall upon the world.
So often in years past have we watched the near
approach of war-clouds upon the political horizon
only to see them dissipated by the sunshine of
arbitration and diplomacy, that no very especial
interest attached to the reappearance of the familiar
phenomenon in the summer of 1914. But, as the
weeks passed, this particular cloud became bigger
and blacker, and, almost before we could realize the
286 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
fact, we learned in the first days of August that war
had been declared, and we found ourselves up against
the might and the power and, though we knew it not
then, the brutal barbarity of the German Empire.
With the hideous nightmare still upon us of
eighteen months of struggle with a monster so hard
to strangle, with an ever-lengthening roll of honour
which includes so many young and gallant sportsmen
among its bravest, and with the ever-present thought
of what would happen to our own fair country and
our dear ones at home should the fortunes of war,
proverbially uncertain, prevail against us, it is
difficult to attune one's mind to write of peaceful
pursuits or to think that any can be found to take
interest in what may be written. And yet, on the
blackest of these dark days there is ever the fragrance
of the breath of hope and a sense of a spirit of promise
that tells of days yet to be, when we shall welcome
home as conquerors some, at least, of those who are
doing for us what we, alas ! ourselves cannot do, and
when the sportsman will be able once again to ride
forth without the company of that atra cura of whose
presence behind the saddle he is so conscious to-day.
It was some such undefined feelings as these,
coupled with the knowledge of the difficulty, and
often impossibility, of resuscitating a hunt once
abandoned, and the thought of what was due to
those who should return after fighting our battles,
that determined the hunts of the kingdom, and
among them the South Devon, to make every effort
to keep alive the sport, even though for the time there
should be no hunters left to ride and but a handful
of followers remaining behind to snatch an occasional
day with hounds. The order therefore went forth
to carry on as best might be, with the paradoxical
MAJOR J. A. COOKE HURLE 287
object of maintaining the supply of foxes by killing
as many as possible, sport being quite a secondary
consideration.
This is not the place to treat of the sacrifices so
readily made by the hunting community in general,
but it is within the scope of this work to record that
the master of the South Devon was one of the first to
act without waiting for a lead. He at once placed his
stud, which he had been at pains and expense to
replenish during the summer, at the disposal of the
Army buyers. They took the whole of his ten hunters.
Then the master himself was taken ; for his regiment,
the North Somerset Yeomanry, was called up for
active service. It was not to be his first experience of
warfare ; in the Boer War his squadron had gone with
one each from the West Somerset, the Devon and the
Dorset, to form the 7th Battalion Imperial Yeomanry.
Help, however, was at hand. The brothers, Messrs.
W^illiam and Herbert Whitley of Paignton, with
admirable good feeling, sent their polo ponies to the
hunt stables, and Mr. F. C. Simpson agreed to act as
deputy-master during Major Cooke Hurle's absence.
The number of hunting days a week was cut down to
two, and Reeves carried the horn in place of his
master.
For a whipper-in, even though he be also kennel-
huntsman, to hunt the pack he has been turning to
another is always something of a disadvantage.
Notwithstanding this, and an assistant new to the
game, with only polo ponies to ride, Reeves came
through the ordeal with great credit and shewed
some very good sport. The absence of a professional
whip was compensated for in a considerable degree by
the assistance rendered by Mr. Simpson's stud-groom,
Truscott, some time whipper-in to the Calpe Hounds.
288 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
The master had a day or two with his pack this
season (1914-15) when on leave. The last occasion
was on the 10th April at Widdicombe, but the
pleasure of seeing him amongst us again was counter-
balanced by a serious accident to Mr. W. R. Vicary,
whose horse put his foot in a rabbit-hole. Mr. Vicary
sustained severe concussion and lay at Natsworthy
Manor for ten days before recovering full conscious-
ness. Mr. Scrimgeour and his daughter, Mrs. Duguid,
did everything in their power for his care and
comfort, and their neighbour. Miss Radcliffe from
Bag Park, was of the greatest help in nursing. It was
a very bad fall, and, hard as he is, Mr. Vicary was
fortunate in getting over it as he did.
Much regret, though little surprise, was felt when,
towards the end of the season 1914-15, Major Cooke
Hurle announced his intention to resign. The reason
of course was that he felt his duty to his country
came first. To that there was nothing to be said, but
the following resolution passed at a general meeting
held on the 17th March, 1915, testifies to the regret
of the hunt at losing so good a master : —
" That this General Meeting of the South Devon
Hunt receives with the very deepest regret the
announcement of the resignation of the Master,
whose tact, courtesy and ability have won the good-
will of the whole country-side, and who it had been
hoped would remain in office for many years ; and
that the Chairman be asked to convey to Major Cooke
Hurle the grateful thanks of the Members for all he
has done for the Hunt during the past two seasons,
and to express their appreciation of the excellent
sport shewn and of the thoroughly efficient manner in
which the Country has been hunted during his
mastership."
CHAPTER XXIV
MR. WILLIAM WHITLEY AND MR. HERBERT
WHITLEY: 1915-
Varied activities of the new joint-masters — Rearrangement of hunt duties —
Generous attitude of the Messrs. ^\Tiitley — Chief object of mamtaining
packs in war-time — New recruits to the field — Some personal notes — Hire
of hunters in the country — Other packs within the South Devon borders —
The Mid-Devon — The Silverton : assistance from Lord Devon and other
landowners : Mr. Pape on active service — Mr. Bninskill's : Mrs. Brunskill
hunts the pack in the msister's absence on service — Lady masters —
Hunting a school for waw — Conclusion.
" Pode and Hamljm and Kelly are all of them good,
But old Beaufort's your mairk if you want the best blood."
{The Chase. Geo. Templer.)
THE anxiety as to the future of the hunt, subse-
quent on the loss of its master during war-time,
was of short duration. Negotiations were opened
with the Messrs. WiUiam and Herbert Whitley of
Barton Pines and Primley, whose generous action in
placing their polo ponies at the disposal of Major
Cooke Hurle when he was stripped of his whole stud,
has already been mentioned. That action in itself
was sufficient to stamp the brothers as sportsmen in
the best sense of the word.
For some years Messrs. Whitley had identified
themselves very closely with the farming interest in
South Devon, and their views and influence had won
respect among the agricultural community. In
particular, they had devoted themselves, with marked
success, to the breeding of pedigree stock of every
sort.
u 289
290 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
Their successes at the last show of the Shire
Horse Society, held at the Agricultural Hall, Isling-
ton, in the month of February, 1916, are typical of
what they have achieved with different lines else-
where. After taking a seventh, an eighth and a fifth
prize with three different exhibits, they were awarded
second prize for Fascination in the class for fillies
foaled in 1913, and that animal was also reserved
in the competition in the Championship Class for
the Cup for the best filly. At the same show their
Lorna Doone carried off the first prize for mares
over 16.2, five years old and upwards, the Champion-
ship Cup for the best mare and the Society's Gold
Challenge Cup valued at fifty guineas and Champion
Cup valued at twenty-five guineas for the best filly
or mare.
The one fear entertained by the hunt committee
was lest, with affairs of such magnitude already
occupying their time, the Messrs. Whitley might feel
unable to cope with the management of a pack hunt-
ing so large a country as the South Devon. But it is
generally true that the busy man is the man who finds
most time, not indeed for leisure, but for fitting in
more work. The solution probably is that his life is
well ordered and his time well parcelled out, none of it
being wasted. The Messrs. Whitley made no secret
of the fact that it would be difficult for them to
devote to the sport and its ancillary duties the
personal attention usually expected of a master, and
they accordingly stipulated that more of the work
should be undertaken by the committee. Further-
more, they organized a system of local sub-committees
to deal on the spot with matters arising in different
parts of the hunt. The idea is excellent and promises
to be a complete success, the only drawback, due to
MR. W. WHITLEY & MR. H. WHITLEY 291
the exigencies of the war, being of a temporary
nature.
These matters being settled, the other terms pre-
sented no difficulty. Messrs. ^^^litley dealt gener-
ously with the committee in the matter of a guarantee,
their only anxiety being to provide sport and to
preserve the hunt from the disaster that threatened
it owing to the impossibility of finding a master
elsewhere at such a time. By their public-spirited
action the brothers have earned not only the grati-
tude of the present members of the hunt, but also that
of succeeding generations, in that the new masters,
in tiding over this time of stress and difficulty,
assured the future of the sport. The hunt is also
indebted to Mr. W. R. Vicary for undertaking, despite
great pressure of business, the work of honorary
secretary.
The new masters bought Major Cooke Hurle's pack,
which remains kennelled, as heretofore, at Pulsford
Hills. Reeves has been kept on as huntsman, and,
though sport for the moment is of secondary import-
ance as compared with the necessity of killing foxes
(for which reason I refrain from going into particulars
of runs during this mastership), he has been very
successful in attaining both objects.
There have been some additions to the field of late
years. Among the younger members, Miss Ainger
sets a good example in keenness to the girls of the
present day, an example that was followed by Miss
Tinline as long as she was in the country. Mr. Arden,
from Sladnor, is now serving in France, and Mr.
G. Knight-Bruce is also, I believe, in khaki. Lord
Hambleden, also on service abroad, does not hunt with
the pack, but all the weight of his influence is applied
in favour of the sport. Mrs. Blake way was at one
292 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
time a regular follower, as was Mr. Bosworthick, and
Mr. C. L. Pennell, a visitor ; Mr. R. M. Bourne, who has
now joined the army, and his brother, Mr. G. Bourne,
are fond of the sport and helpful to the hunt. Miss
Lewis goes well and is a valued member of one of
the sub-committees. It is sad to have to record that
Miss Dundee Hooper, a promising young follower from
Torquay, has lately been taken from us.
Lieut. -Colonel W. E. T. Bolitho, d.s.o., is mostly
occupied in hunting his own pack, the Western, in
Cornwall — that is, in peace time, for he is now on
active service — but he also has a house in the South
Devon country and, when there, never fails to join
the glad throng.
Mr. J. C. Chapman of Cadeleigh now rarely comes
out mounted ; nevertheless, he takes an active
interest in the sport which is doubly welcome by
reason of the large extent of shooting which he rents.
He is also honorary treasurer to the Haldon Harriers.
Mr. W. S. Curtis of Denbury Manor and his daughter
rarely miss a day. Mr. F. F. Card comes from Newton
Abbot ; and Miss Collins, Waye, Ashburton, is ever
ready to help the hunt.
The field do not see as much as they would wish of
Mr. R. H. Lee of Yarner and his daughter. Miss Lee ;
but if the master of that delightful preserve is not
always at home, foxes are always there as proof of his
sympathy and interest. Mr. and Mrs. Fetch, riding
very big horses, and Dr. and Mrs. Steele, riding very
little ones, come from Totnes and St. Marychurch
respectively ; that is to say, they did so until the call
of the country took both husbands from their homes.
Mr. O. Durant-Parker and Mr. H. S. Seymour not only
join the field, but are also most helpful in preserving
foxes at opposite ends of the country. Miss Robertson
IVIR. W. WHITLEY & MR. H. WHITLEY 293
from Westerlands and Miss Frost from Torquay are
both very keen. Mr. J. S. Trelawny really " belongs '*
to the Dartmoor, but is also a member of the South
Devon and joins that pack when it meets within
reach of him at Buckfastleigh ; and Mr. G. L. Bailey
from Bovey and Mr. S. Simpson are helpful new-
comers to the hunt.
There are several reliable men in the hunt who let
out hunters. As they all hunt themselves, they know
the sort of horse required and how to get him into
condition. W. Holman of Torquay is probably the
veteran, yet his nerve is as good as that of his son,
Frank, while his weight and figure seem to remain
as they were thirty and more years ago. The Grist
family have also been settled at Torquay for a great
number of years. The brothers R. J. and J. C.
Collings are the present partners in a very old-
established business at Exeter. F. Bulley and J.
Fairweather and F. Davies of Newi:on Abbot, W. E.
Cawdle of Torquay and E. W. Pomeroy of Teign-
mouth complete the list.
We have now traced the history of the South Devon
Hunt through its varying fortunes down to the
present day. The history, however, would be in-
complete without a brief word as to neighbouring
hunts operating within the borders of the South
Devon.
This country at present is far too extensive to be
capable of being adequately hunted by one pack, and
the shrinkage that is taking place in all hunts, due to
the growth of towns and other causes, works but
slowly in South Devon. Meanwhile, the advantage
294 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
of the outlying portions of the country being properly
hunted is considerable and deserves recognition.
To take the Mid-Devon first. This pack under the
successive management of several masters, among
whom Mr. S. V. Thomas, Mr. Lowndes Norton, Mr.
Hayter-Hames and Mr. G. Spiller have been the most
noteworthy, has rendered great service by relieving
the older hunt from the duty of visiting such a
remote part of its domains, and also by keeping the
moorland foxes on the move. Any relaxation of
pressure on the Mid-Devon side would undoubtedly
result in foxes from further south seeking the quiet
seclusion in the Vein country, to the detriment of sport
on the more accessible portion of the moor. With the
exception of the Fern worthy district, where the going
is of the best, the Mid-Devon country is rough and
wild. Nevertheless sport is often excellent. As has
previously been explained, ^ the position of the Mid-
Devon Hunt is that of a leaseholder for its own life
of that portion of the South Devon country that it
now occupies. The Mid-Devon Hunt being thus
autonomous, its doings have no place in this history.
It is to be hoped that its own will one day be written.
Since January, 1909, the Haldon side of the
country, or the greater portion of it, has been en-
trusted to the Silverton. This arrangement has been
most successful. When it was first started, the
country was in a bad way. It had not been hunted
at all during 1904-5 ; in the next season the South
Devon were there only four times ; and in 1906-7,
six days only. From the end of that season until
January, 1909, the country was not visited by fox-
hounds. In fact, the hunting interest had been almost
completely squeezed out by the shooting interest.
1 See chapter XVIII.
MR. W. WHITLEY & MR. H. WHITLEY 295
Great credit is due to Mr. Wilcocks and Mr. Rewe of
Exeter, the then masters of the Silverton, who, with
Mr. A. Pape as huntsman, worked indefatigably to
resuscitate hunting in the neglected area. In this
effort they were greatly helped by the landowners.
Lord Devon in particular, though himself a shooting
and not a hunting man, set a magnificent example
and was at great pains to restore a head of foxes at
and around Powderham. Lord Devon was backed
up by Lord Clifford, Sir Robert Newman, Mr. Studd,
Miss Short, Mr. Bannatyne, Lord Morley, Mr. J. H.
Ley and others. The success of the pack in the
field did the rest, and when the joint-masters, in
1911, handed over the entire management to Mr.
Pape, the Haldon side had quite recovered its
position, and, indeed, things were in a more satis-
factory condition than they had been for many a
year. It is only to be regretted that the number of
shootings let to tenants keeps the coverts mostly
closed to hounds until Christmas.
The Silverton is a pack of " irregulars." Its hound-
list usually contains the names of some ten couple of
foxhounds, a similar number of hounds with a harrier
cross and some five or six couple of pure harriers.
Some of the hounds are kept strictly to their own
game ; others play a dual part, for the Silverton hunt
hare one day a week besides their two days with fox.
It is no disparagement to regular foxhound kennels
to say that this blended pack admirably suits the
rather special requirements of the Haldon country.
It is my belief that a foxhound can hunt as low or as
cold a scent as a harrier, but it is not always that he
will take the trouble to do it. Especially is this the
case where he is brought occasionally into a bad-
scenting country like the Haldon from one carrying
296 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
a better scent to which he is accustomed. Everyone
knows what a treasure a good road-hunter is in a
pack, and on Haldon foxes frequently run the roads
for very considerable distances. A harrier's patience
gives him an advantage in such circumstances. Then,
again, a foxhound draws best on a good-scenting day,
when there is a scent to draw him into thick covert —
I speak of countries where foxes are scarce and where
hounds are not continually drawing coverts where
they always find. A harrier, on the other hand, is a
busy, inquisitive individual and pokes his nose every-
where. Tongue, too, and plenty of it, is of the first
importance in the big woodlands. It is safe to say
that, once fairly settled to a fox, the Silverton rarely
leave him ; and though, in such a hollow country
as Haldon, a certain number naturally get to ground,
the average of kills is very high. With such a pack,
and with a huntsman like Mr. Pape, quiet, observant,
relying greatly upon his hounds, and with a persever-
ance that never tires, the sport on and around Haldon
during the past few years has been excellent. Refer-
ence has been made earlier to the number of wild
fallow deer that infest the country. It is sufficient to
say that the master has overcome this difficulty like
the rest, and with the aid of his whipper-in. Jack
Davie, has got the pack absolutely steady. Mr. J.
Shelley, son of Sir John Shelley, acted as an additional
whip for the two seasons immediately before the
war. Like so many others, he is now serving his
country abroad. May his return to his more peaceful
occupation be safe and speedy ! Mr. Pape himself
has recently joined up, having accepted a commission
in the Devon Regiment. In his absence, Mrs. Pape
attends to the business of the hunt, and the pack is
hunted by the whipper-in.
at Sl-tsjCE.
MR. W. WHITLEY & MR. H. WHITLEY 297
The following were, until war broke out, among
the regular followers of the Silverton on Haldon :
Miss Annesley, Miss Bannatyne, Misses Hay, Mrs.
Palairet, Miss E. Studd, Miss Wilkinson, Major
Bannatyne, 1 Captain Naper, Captain W^oolcombe-
Adams, Dr. Waddeton-Smith, Rev. L. Harris Arun-
dell, Messrs. Acland Troyte, W. H. Allen, the late
H. F. Carr (hon. sec.), C. S. Carr, R. J. and J. C. Colhngs,
W. F. Coombe, Dr. Cutcliffe, F. Cottrell, N. T. Dray,
W. H. Gould, J. D. P. Goodwin, R. E. Hancock,
H. B. Lowndes, L. C. H. Palairet, J. Paul, H. G. Rew,
J. Rowell, J. F. Shelley, H. G. Shrubb, J. Symes,
J. M. Wilcocks, W. H. Worrall and M. Wyatt Edgell.
Yet another portion of the South Devon country,
sufficient in extent, with the addition of a small loan
from the Dartmoor, to support a pack two days a
week, is separately hunted. This is the portion
loaned to Mr. Brunskill, which he hunts with a
private pack. It coincides very nearly with the
country Sir Henry Scale formerly hunted with his
private pack. It is bounded on the west from
Diptford by the river Avon and the sea. The
northern boundary follows the roads from Diptford
to Morleigh and Morleigh to Halwell and Harberton-
ford, and the river Harbourne from there to the
Dart. The latter river, with the sea, forms the
eastern boundary. These boundaries include the
loan from the Dartmoor.
This pack was formed, as previously mentioned, in
1914. Having carried out his engagement to hunt the
country during that season, in which, by the way, he
shewed some excellent sport, Mr. Brunskill felt himself
free to put his services at the disposal of his country.
^ This gallant soldier and good sportsman has since died of wounds
received in action in France.
298 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
He joined the Wilts Yeomanry and is now expecting
very shortly to be sent abroad on active service.
The question then arose as to the fate of the pack
and the future of the nevrly formed hunt. After
careful deliberation, it was decided to keep on the
hounds, and Mrs. Brimskill undertook, not only to
perform the duties of master, but also to hunt the
pack herself. Those who know Mrs. Brunskill and
who have noted her knowledge of the sport will not
be surprised to learn that she is acquitting herself
remarkably well. Such an undertaking is a serious
one. The work of a huntsman, in the field alone, is
very hard. The many moments of relaxation enjoyed
by the irresponsible members of the field are denied
to a huntsman. His body is at work most of the day
and his mind all of it, and few things are more
fatiguing than the combined exhaustion of body and
brain. One or two lady-masters hunt their own
harriers, but I know of none other who has tried
her hand with foxhounds. Mrs. Brunskill is admir-
ably supported by the farmers and by the field, and
all are anxious to help her in every way possible. It
is to be hoped that her spirited action will result in
keeping the hunt together until such time as her
husband is free to return home.
Such is the story of the South Devon Hunt. To
some, the story and, indeed, the very thought of
hunting will seem a mockery amid the appalling
happenings of these times. Others, more thoughtful,
will see in those very happenings the realization of
the claims long put forward in defence of the sport
and the greatest justification for its continuance.
They recognize that there is no school like the
hunting-field for training up a vigorous manhood. In
MH. W. \A'HITLEY ^' ME. H. \\'HITLEY 299
the hunting-field a man leams discipline and self-
restraint, his perceptions are quickened, his physical
powers developed, his endurance hardened and his
courage put to the test. Habits of observation and
self-rehance, resource in difficulties and determina-
tion in surmounting obstacles are acquired there as
they are nowhere else. Valuable attributes, these,
for the soldier, more especially for him who, but for
field sports, would be a stranger to toil or hardship
of any sort. Not only so, but in these days when
roads are made too dangerous to ride upon, it is fair
to say that outside the hunting community the art
of riding and the knowledge of horsekeeping has died
out among the people. The South Devon has trained
its share of those who are now defending the Empire
in the greatest war of all time. It is up to the ladies
of the hunt and those men who are past the fighting
age to keep ahve an institution that has survived
many wars, great and small, and many other difficulties
that have threatened it from time to time during an
existence of over a hundred vears.
NOTE ON THE MAP
FOR reasons which appear earlier in these pages,
the red boundary of the South Devon country
includes what, under existing conditions, is the Mid-
Devon country. The division between the two hunts
is shewn by a broken red line. The boundaries of the
Mid-Devon were defined for me by Mr. Hayter-Hames
and Mr. Gilbert Spiller. It is only fair to say that
Mr. A. W. Luxton, the master, and Mr. J. A. Tatters-
hall, the honorary secretary of the Eggesford, after
consultation with members of their committee, do
not agree the exact line given as the northern
boundary of the Mid-Devon. They place it some-
what further to the south from the neighbourhood
of Belstone to Spreyton and a mile or two beyond.
I have, however, adopted the line which Mr. Hayter-
Hames and Mr. Spiller were good enough to lay
down with great nicety, for the reason that both
those gentlemen have been intimately acquainted
with the hunt and the country all their lives, and
have been masters of the Mid-Devon, at one time or
another, for an aggregate period of eleven seasons.
The line of division shewn between the Eggesford
and the South Devon proper in the neighbourhood
of Crediton is that which I understand the Eggesford
claims as its south-eastern boundary.
The extreme north-eastern corner of the South
Devon calls for explanation. For reasons stated
presently, I have adopted as the boundary that given
302 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
by Sheet No. 19 of Stanford's Map of England and
Wales coloured to shew the Fox-Hunts^ published on
the 1st of January, 1877, as far as the point where
the Tiverton now come in. Stanford's map carries
the South Devon even further to the north. Sir Ian
Amory, however, has kindly marked what he claims
to be the present Tiverton boundary, and there can
be no question as to the accuracy of his claim.
I am aware that Hobson^s Foxhunting Atlas, which
is before me, does not extend the north-eastern
corner of the South Devon as far as does Stanford's
map. Hobson carries it no further than the London
and South-Western Railway, which he calls the " Taw
Valley Railway." It will be noted that this gives the
Tiverton considerably more country than is claimed
by its present master. It is possible — though this is
only conjecture — that Mr. Tom Carew came down
with the Tiverton as far as the railway by permission
at the time his cousin, Sir Walter Carew, hunted the
South Devon country from Haccombe. It looks,
indeed, as if the colouring of Hobson's map of Devon-
shire hunts had been made to fit such areas as were
actually hunted by a particular pack at that moment,
ignoring loans of country and hunting rights which
were not then exercised. The northern half of
Dartmoor, for instance, is not coloured at all ;
neither is a large tract that encircles it on the west,
north and east ; and Sir Henry Scale's country,
which is known to have been made up of loans from
the South Devon and Dartmoor, is shewn as a
separate country. ^ Hobson^ s Atlas is not dated, but
^ So is Mr. Roe's. This appears to have been included by mistake. Both
the Netv Sporting Magazine and Oilerfs Ouide class it among harrier packs,
and the latter work contains this remark : —
" Mr. Roe's harriers are not foxhounds as would appear by advertisements
in the London papers ; they are well-bred harriers, and, oj course, confine
themselves to their own game."
NOTE ON THE MAP 303
it seems pretty clear, from the railways and hunts
that it gives, that it was published between 1845 and
1849. This was Tom Lane's period, and we have
his own statement in a letter, dated in 1878, that he
had more country than he could manage to hunt.
Even so, the London and South- Western Railway,
as boundary, gives a more ample margin in the north-
east than the South Devon is ever likely to want to
avail itself of. The point is one of academic interest
rather than of practical importance, but, all things
considered, Stanford's map seems to be the one on
which most reliance can be placed.^
A considerable part of the country on the South
Devon side of the present Tiverton boundary was for
many years hunted by an old-established pack called
the Tremlett. Like many others in Devon, this pack
was originally a harrier pack ; it then took to hunting
foxes as well as hares, and, in course of time, developed
into a foxhound pack. It first figures as such in the
Field annual table of hunts for the year 1893.
Sir John Shelley was a staunch supporter of the
Tremlett and for some years its master, at first
jointly with Mr. John Tremlett, and afterwards alone.
In the year 1893, in answer to an enquiry which, as
honorary secretary for the Haldon side, I made
respecting an announcement that the Tremlett were
to meet at Dunsford (w^hich should have been Duns-
ford Wood), Sir John Shelley wrote as follows : —
" We have, by permission of the authorities of the
South Devon, Lord Haldon and Mr. Studd, and at the
^ The reputation of Messrs. Stanford is a guarantee that every care would
have been taken to ensure the accuracy of this map. In corroboration, I may
mention that the late Mr. Alec Munro, who was master of the Dartmoor at
the time it was in course of preparation, since told me that he was consulted
about that hvmt and that great pains were taken. It is fair to assume that
similar care was exercised with regard to other hunts.
804 THE SOUTH DEVON HE^N'T
request and desire of Mr. Fulford of Great Fulford,
drawn the coiinti^* from Steps Bridge to Clifford
Bridge and including Fulford. Camalls. Hackworthy
Brake and many other small coverts up to the Exeter
and Okehampton road. I am quite ready to acknow-
ledge that permission was given by the South Devon
Exeter Division. . . ."
Nothing was said as to the rest of the Tremlett
ooantiy, either because it was not germane to my
question, or because Sir John did not look upon it as
South Devon country.
The Tremlett Hunt, however, ceased to exist about
the year 1902.
A few years later, the SUverton Harriers turned
their attention to hunting foxes and extended their
country to include, in addition to a loan from the
Tiverton, a certain part of the old Tremlett countn,-.
No objectiom was taken by the South Devon ; neither
was any permission considered necessary until the
SilvertcHL in the season 190S-9, desiring to come
south of the Exeter and Okehampton road, apphed
for and obtained leave to hunt the Haldon side of the
So^itli Devon, or so much of it as was not then loaned
to the master of the Mid-Devon. The SUverton had
a sbort separate existence as a foxhound pack for
about three after which it reverted to the
dual arrangr : : /JT.ting both fox and hare.
We have s t: : :: iiitestone Wood, Pynes and
Kill£]ix)n — eir fixtures in the early days — the days of
Kln^ Caie~ Haworth. How far since those
days ^he :^ 1 tvon has exercised or claimed any
li^bts ::. - . _. n in question, I am unable to say.
Mr. St ii Ttes from the Front that he cannot
: i: :.t drew north of the Okehampton
i:;^ ;_ ; 7 :t i.r. :' verts belonging to Mr. Drew,
NOTE OX THE M.\P
bat that be is sure be n- . . — Whitertcne or
Newton Woods ; and those : hare cgiainly
not been drawn by the Sooth Devon since his time.
In the face at the abore facts, it seeaas to me that
tbCTe is no pack in a positiaii to dbim agimt tbe
South Devon in the legioii in gnratki mftfl the
Tiverton country is readied. I tbexdiQve feel caent-
pelled to leave the boondaiy (with the imiilifkiliiBi
referred to) soch. as I find it in ISTT. always asBHBBig
the accuracy of Stanford's map of that date. To
others must be left the qoestioii, if it siioald ever
azise, whether the moe nash^mntiiig <^ a parti'~-:l2:
district is snfiBcient to operate as an ahandonTne:::
it and how far such circmDstanees apply to the liT
under consadesation.
The westexn boundary {Kesents no difi&culty. From
Post Bridge, wbere tiic IBd-Devon gives place to ihe
South Devon, I am indebted to >Irs. Bnm^dD. in the
absence on service of her husband, for the d^nitioii
of the frontier line between the South Devwi and the
Dartmoor. Mrs. Brunskfll is well qualified to speak
with authOTty. >Ir. Coryton, the mastci oi ihe
Dartmoor, has been kind enough to check and
confirm this boundary, with the one exceptkm that
he differs from Mrs. Brunskill by placing Hood BaB,
Velwell and Brownstcme cm the DartmocHr side of the
line. I have adopted his correction.
As will be seen from the map, the ooontry on the
south and east nms to the sea and the river Ese.
PRINCIPAL PLACES OF MEETING
Naine No. on Map \
Name
No. on Map
Afton Brook, Berry .
68
New Buildings
. 29
Alston Cross ....
50
New Inn
. 42
Aptor Farm, Berry .
71
Ogwell . . . .
. 55
Berry Castle ....
69
Penn Inn
. 57
Blagdon Barton
70
Poundsgate
. 45
Challacombe ....
16
Primley . . . .
. 73
Chercombe Bridge .
56
Reddaford Water .
. 21
Cockingford Mill
35
Red Post
. 67
Cockington ....
74
Rising Sun, Woodland
. 53
Denbury Green
62
Rock Hotel
. 29
Forches Cross ....
43
Roister Bridge
. 76
Furzeleigh Mill
59
Round House, Haccombe
. 58
Goodstone Gate
51
Rowden Gate .
. 33
Granite Lodge, Stover
38
Sharpham
. 78
Grendon ....
28
Shinners Bridge
. 66
Half-way House, Aahburton Rd.
52
Sigford . . . .
. 41
Heatree .....
18
Smoky House
. 72
Heytor Buildings
29
Spitchwick
. 46
Holne Bridge ....
48
Star Inn, Stover
. 37
Ilsington ....
36
Travellers' Rest
. 54
Jay's (or Jane's) Grave
19
Two Mile Oak
. 63
Kennels ....
61
Waddeton Court
. 80
Kingskerswell
65
Warren Inn
. 15
Lupton .....
81
Welstor Cross .
. 49
Manaton Green
20
Whiddon Arch
. 64
Maypool ....
86
Widdecombe-in-the-Moor
. 34
Natsworthy ....
17
Wolston Green
. 60
New Bridge ....
47
Yarner . . . .
. 30
H^
LLDO
N SIDE
(On Lot
m to t
he Silverton)
Beggar's Bush
23
Lindridge . .
. 40
Bellamarsh ....
21
Peamore Arch
6
Black Forest Lodge
26
Pocomb Bridge
. 3
Bridford ....
7
Powderham Arch
. 10
Canonteign
11
Round 0
. 14
Castle Dyke .
32
Sandy Gate
. 39
Cofton Cross .
27
Sixth Milestone, Okeha
mpton
Crocombe Bridge
22
Road .
1
Dunsford
4
Teign House Inn
8
Haldon Belvedere .
9
Thorns .
. 24
Haldon Race Stand
13
Whiteway
. 12
Jackdaw Inn, Oxton
25
Windy Cross .
5
Lamb Inn, Longdown
2
Wood .
. 44
"SIR HENRY
SEAL
E'S OLD COUNTRY"
{On Loc
m to J
Mr. Brunskill)
Blackawton Forces .
. 84
Dittisham
. 79
Bow Bridge
. 77
Fallapit .
. 87
Buckland-Tout-Saints
. 88
Halwell .
, 83
Capton ....
. 85
Slapton .
. 89
Crabbaton Gate
. 75
Stanborough Gate .
. 82
Note : The numbers on the Map run consecutively from left to right in
lines of greater or less width, beginning at the top.
306
APPENDICES
s
APPENDIX A
Reprinted from The Western Morning News
A Devon Hunt in 1823
THE CHASE OF THE BAGGED FOX
[To the Editor of The Western Morning News]
IR, — ^I have just come across an account of a run which
took place on January 9th, 1823, with hounds then kept
by Mr. George Templer, of Stover, near Newton (the present
residence of Mr. Harold St. Maur), which may interest
some of your readers. The pack were called the " Catch 'em
Alives," as they were never allowed — if it could be prevented
— ^to kill their fox. The Mr. Taylor mentioned was the Rev.
Harry Taylor, of Ogwell, who for many years was the much-
respected rector of South Pool, near Kingsbridge, and who
was a noted horseman of his day and owned a wonderful little
horse called " Nunkey," which was given him by an uncle.
Old Sportsman.
devon fox-hunting
An extraordinary pack of dwarf foxhounds are kept by
George Templer, Esq., of Stover House, about 14 miles
below Exeter, not far from the great turnpike-road leading
from that place to Plymouth. They are never allowed to
have blood, if it can be prevented, and, what is singular, they
very seldom miss a fox. They are followed by such deter-
mined sportsmen and good riders, with the best of horses,
that it seldom happens but that some are up when the fox
is taken, to rescue him from the hounds before they have the
power to kill him, and he is taken alive and kept for another
309
310 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
day's sport. Mr. Templer has at this time nearly twenty
brace of foxes in reserve, which he keeps in courts fitted up
for their accommodation.
On Thursday, the 9th January, 1823, these hounds had one
of the best days for the season. At 12 o'clock precisely
a very fine vixen fox, which was dug two days before by the
huntsman to Sir Henry Carew's harriers, was unbagged
before a large field of sportsmen at the Old Decoy, belonging
to Lord Courtenay, near Newton Abbot. After going off in a
most gallant style he made a short round to Wolborough
Church, and crossing the Totnes turnpike road he ran the
country in a circle for about four miles to the place where he
was first turned out, when, making another turn, catching
the wind, and having lost his country, he made away for
Ipplepen, Denbury, and Ingsdon, where, turning to the right,
he gained the coverts of Bradley, which re-echoed with the
delightful music of this steady pack, and the cheers of the
sportsmen. He then crossed a branch of the river Teign
under Bradley House, from whence he ascended the steep
hills to Highweek Village, where a check of some minutes
occurred, owing to the fox having got into some gardens and
about the outhouses of the village, but being halloed away
again by some people at work, and bending again to the right,
he faced the open country of Bovey Heathfield, where he
swam the canal belonging to Mr. Templer twice, and, thread-
ing his large plantations on the border of the heath, he
ultimately gained a small one belonging to Lord Clifford, near
Chudleigh, where he was run into and safely secured by some
of the gentlemen, who were up before the hounds had done
him any injury. Thus ended a chase of upwards of two hours,
having gone over a country of nearly 25 miles — a chase
that gave the greatest satisfaction to a most numerous
field of the best sportsmen of the country. The extra-
ordinary height of perfection to which the discipline of a pack
of hounds of the highest blood is brought is worthy the
attention of every sportsman. Mr. Harry Taylor, of Ogwell
House, so manages this pack that he turns down the fox
immediately before their noses, and although not a word is
spoken nor a whip moved not a dog stirs until the law given
APPENDIX A 311
the fox is up, when Mr. Templer by the single ■word ** Now "
bids them to the chase, when they immediately rush like a
cloud to the scent, and go away in the most gallant style ; and
the sportsmen have then nothing to do but to make their
nags put the best leg foremost, or they have no chance of
seeing a hound again for that chase. We believe no pack in
the kingdom throughout a season shows better sport, have
longer or severer chases, or draw together better fields of
sportsmen than these hounds. On the occasion of this grand
nm there were about 50 or 60 of the first characters in the
country as sportsmen in the field, among which were Sir
Lawrence Palk. of Haldon (who keeps a stud of seven or
eight horses at Melton, in Leicestershire, and is a liberal
subscriber to the Melton Hounds), Sir Henry Carew. Sir John
Louis, Miss Templer. Harry Taylor, Walter Carew, Cresswell,
Digby Fowell, of Fowlescombe, Carey, Burlton, G arrow,
Kitsons (4), Hole, Pollard, Charles Scale, Piuson. In the
course of this long chase there was a great deal of good,
straightforward riding displayed, and many strong leaps
taken and some four or five swam their horses through the
canal twice after the hounds. Amongst the desperate leaps
taken we cannot help noticing one taken by Mr. H. Taylor on
his bay horse Xunkey, in which he was followed by one other
only, Mr. Digby Fowell, on his chestnut mare, by Revel.
It was a stone wall, above five feet, built across a lane that
was ordered to be stopped up, except for foot passengers, and
there were steps on each side for their accommodation. Not
another man, although the greater part of the field were well
up, dared to trust himself or his horse at this leap : and had
not the fox made a lucky turn just after to the right, very
few would have seen a hound again until the check in High-
week village, which let in most of the slow and easy gentlemen,
though, indeed, the whole run gave general satisfaction, as
there was plenty of steady hunting, as well as a continuance
of chase at their best pace.
APPENDIX B
RULES AND REGULATIONS
OF THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
Passed at a General Meeting of the Hunt, convened by public
advertisement, held at Newton Abbot on the 2Mh April, 1912,
and an adjournment thereof on the 22nd May, 1912.
Revised at the Annual General Meeting held on the SOth April,
1913.
1. The business and affairs of the South Devon Hunt shall
be managed by the Members of the Hunt for the time being
as hereinafter defined, with the exception of such matters as
are hereinafter authorized to be dealt with by the Committee.
2. Members of the South Devon Hunt shall consist of : —
(a) Owners of land within the Hunt limits of 200 acres in
extent and upwards :
(6) Lessees of shooting rights within the Hunt limits of
500 acres in extent and upwards :
(In the case of a shooting being rented by several persons
jointly, only one of such persons shall be entitled to member-
ship.)
(c) Tenant farmers and farmers farming their own land
within the Hunt limits of 50 acres in extent and upwards :
{d) Annual subscribers to the Hunt of £5 or upwards
(exclusive of subscriptions to any existing separate damage
fund).
3. The Committee of the Hunt shall be elected at the
Annual General Meeting and shall consist of 15 members, 5 of
312
APPENDIX B 313
whom shall be elected from class (c), and the remainder from
the other members of the Hunt.
The Committee shall have power from time to time if they
think fit, to co-opt, as additional members of the Committee,
such further persons not exceeding two in number, as from
their position or influence in the Countn.' the Committee shall
think it desirable in the interest of the Hunt to add to the
Committee.
The Committee shall remain in office for one year and be
eligible for re-election. A casual vacancy on the Committee
may be filled by the Committee.
4. A Chairman and a Vice-Chairman shall be elected at the
Annual General Meeting from the members of the Committee,
and shall hold office for one year, and shall be eligible for
re-election. A casual vacancy in the Chairmanship or Vice-
chairmanship may be filled by the Committee. The Chair-
man, when present, or, failing him, the Vice-Chairman, shall
preside at all General and Committee Meetings, and in his
absence a temporary Chairman shall be elected by those
present.
5. An Honorary Secretary and an Honorary Treasurer
shall be elected at every Annual General Meeting and shall
be eligible for re-election. A casual vacancy in the Secretan,'-
ship or Treasurership may be filled at any General Meeting.
The Honorary Secretary shall be entitled to take part in
discussions and to vote at General or Committee Meetings
whether otherwise qualified or not.
6. Any person elected to fill a casual vacancy under the
three preceding rules shall hold office only until the next
succeeding Annual General Meeting unless then re-elected.
7. The Conmiittee shall be elected by Ballot, and only
those who are proposed and seconded by members of the
Hunt, and whose nominations are sent to the Honorary
Secretary three weeks prior to the Annual General Meeting
in May, shall be qualified for election.
8. An Annual General Meeting of Members shall be held
at the Globe Hotel, Newton Abbot, or at such other con-
314 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
venient place as the Chairman (or faihng him the Honorary
Secretary) may decide, during the month of May in every
year.
9. A General Meeting may be convened at any time by the
Chairman or by a resolution of the Committee, and shall be
convened by the Honorary Secretary on a written requisition
signed by any ten Members. Twelve shall form a quorum.
All General Meetings shall be convened by public advertise-
ment in at least two newspapers, giving at least ten clear
days' notice thereof.
10. A Special Meeting shall be convened for the 3rd
Wednesday in January in every year for the purpose of
making or considering arrangements for hunting the Country
during the following season, unless that matter is already
provided for by the arrangements then in existence.
11. A Committee Meeting may be convened at any time
by the Chairman, and shall be convened by the Honorary
Secretary on a written requisition signed by three members
of the Committee. Five shall form a quorum.
12. No business, except general business or urgent busi-
ness, shall be transacted at any Meeting other than the
business appearing on the Notice convening the Meeting, or
business arising thereout.
13. All matters, other than the election of Committee, shall
be decided by the votes of the majority of those present and
voting at any Meeting. The Chairman shall have a casting
vote.
14. The Committee shall have the control and management
of all matters affecting the internal economy of the Hunt :
such as Tenancy and repair of Kennels, administration of
funds, establishment and administration of separate damage
or poultry or wire funds, questions of capping, payment of
Keepers and earth stoppers and their annual Dinner, &c.,
and also, in the event of the country being hunted by the
Committee, the engagement and dismissal of Hunt servants
and purchase and sale of horses and hounds, &c.
APPENDIX B 315
15. The Committee shall have power to deal with and
dispose of all questions arising between the Hunt and any
other Hunt, including questions of boundaries and temporary
loans of country, and all questions arising between any indi-
vidual and the Hunt, and any questions between any indi-
vidual and the Master or between individual members that
may be submitted to the Committee, and all questions of
hunting law or other like questions.
16. A record of all proceedings at Meetings shall be entered
in Minute books.
17. All Hunt funds from whatever source (including
proceeds of " caps ") shall be paid to the Honorary Treasurer
or to such Banking Account or Accounts as he or the Com-
mittee shall determine.
18. The Hunt accounts shall be audited every year and the
balance sheet and list of subscribers shall be submitted and
produced at the Annual General Meeting.
19. The hunting season shall be deemed to begin on the
1st November and end on the 1st May.
20. Subscriptions to the Hunt shall be on the following
scale and shall become due on the 1st November. No sub-
scriber shall be entitled to vote at any General or Committee
Meeting, though otherwise qualified, until his subscription
due on the preceding 1st November shall be paid.
The minimum subscription for all persons resident in the
South Devon Hunt and hunting with the pack (except
farmers and puppy walkers who shall be exempt) shall be
£5 5s. Od. A " cap " of 5s. per day shall be payable by non-
subscribers limited to four days in the season. The Honorary
Secretary shall have power to accept a smaller subscription in
special circumstances.
21. The Master for the time being shall be entitled, without
consulting the Committee, to give permission in writing to
any other pack to draw any part of the South Devon country
a reasonable number of days in any one season ; but no
general permission shall be given, or loan made of any part
316 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
of the country, without the express sanction of the Com-
mittee. What is a reasonable number for the purposes of
this rule shall be determined by the Committee.
22. No rule shall be altered or rescinded and no new rule
shall be made except at an Annual General Meeting, or until
the Committee have had an opportunity of considering and
discussing the same. Notice of any proposed alteration or
rescission of any rule or of any new rule shall be given in
writing to the Honorary Secretary three weeks prior to such
Annual General Meeting, and the notice convening such
Meeting shall state the number of the rule proposed to be
altered or rescinded, or that a new rule is to be proposed.
APPENDIX C
GLOSSARY OF DEVONSHIRE TERMS
Bottom : See Goyal.
cutter (or Clatter) : An irregular heap of granite boulders.
Glitters are found mostly on hillsides and are said to be the
result of decay of the Tors (q.v.).
Coombe : A valley between two steep hills.
Cry of the river : A striking effect produced by the sound
of rushing water peculiar to the Dart. The Rev. S. Baring-
Gould quotes the following couplet :
" The Dart, the Dart— the cruel Dart
Every year demands a heart."
And the river is represented as crying for its prey.
Forest : Dartmoor was once, like Exmoor, a Royal Forest,
i.e. a place where beasts of forest were preserved for the King.
The term does not imply the existence of trees (e.g. Scotch
deer forest). Dartmoor is still spoken of as a forest, though
no longer such legally, it having passed into private hands.
Flying-fence : A term used to distinguish a hedge or
other fence that a horse clears in his stride, from a bank on
which he alights before jumping off it.
Goyal (or Goyle) : The washed-out bed of an old stream or
torrent at the bottom of a valley or coombe.
In-country : All country other than moorland.
Linhay : A shed.
Newtake : A piece of land taken in from the moor or open
commons and enclosed with a wall or other fence.
317
318 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
Pocket : An opening in the face of the moor, made by
miners.
Scat : Plastered, e.g. with mud.
Shippens : Houses or yards for cattle or sheep (i.e.
probably a corruption of sheep-pens).
Stickle : The broken water running over shallows of a
river.
Swale (v.) : The act of burning heather, &c., on moors or
commons, to improve the pasturage.
Tor: "The tors — Nature's towers — are huge masses of
granite on the tops of the hills . . . piled one upon another
in Nature's own fantastic way " (Rev. S. Baring-Gould).
Turf -ties : The name given to the pits where the turf is
cut for fuel.
Unlight (v.) : To dismount.
Up-country : A term used in referring to any country other
than Devon or Cornwall.
Vein : The Vein, or Vein-Country, is the name given to a
vast tract of bog-land in the northern part of Dartmoor.
Hence, " veiny ground " means any boggy ground. The
word is probably merely the local pronunciation of " fen."
INDEX
Accidents in the Hunting Field,
194, 162, 164, 174, 234, 235,
288
Acland-Troyte, Mr,, 297
Adams, Mr., 107
— Mr. S. P., 226
Ainger, Miss, 291
Alexander, James, 112
Allen, Mr. G. E., 227
— W. H., 297
Alsop, ilr. J., 227
Amory, Mr. (now Sir) Ian, 238,
Annesley, Miss, 297
Arden, Mr., 291
Arundell, Rev. L. Harris, 297
Ashburton Harriers, The, 236
Atherstone, The, 266
Babbage, 87
Back, PhiHp, 112, 113, 175
Badminton, 22, 70
— Library, 70
— The, 83, 130, 224, 248, 266
Bag-foxes, 25, 26, 27, 38, 49-52,
64, 309-11
BaUey, Mr. G. L., 293
Baillie, Mr. AJec, 134
— ilr. Evan, 107, 119, 134, 215
Baily's Hunting Directory, 39
68 f.n.
— Magazine, 24, 110, 129, 174
Baker, Dr., 134
— Dr. de W., 163
— Mr. Robert, 100
BaU, Mr. Mark, 225
Bannatyne, Major, 297
— Miss, 297
— Mr. 295
39,
237.
302
54,
f.n.
Barclay, ilr., 110
Barnes, Mr. W., 260
Barran, Miss, 260
— Mr. C. M., 260
Barratt, Mr. J., 107
Bartlett, Mr. S., 107
Beachey, Mr. H. G., 107
Beagles, 26, 264
Beal, 44, 47, 48, 57
" Beasts of Venery," 140
Beaufort, Duke of, 23, 65, 70, 140,
156, 224, 240
Beckford, 31
Belfield, Major S., 260
BeUew, Mr. Froude, 137, 143, 180
Belvoir, The, 21, 22, 152, 197 f.o.
Bentinck, Lord Henry, 40
Bicester, The, 83, 95
Bickford, Mr. J., 227
Birdwood, General, 95
" Bishop of Dartmoor," 7
Bitch Pack, 55, 79, 183. 195, 260
Blackaller, Mr. J., 107
Blackmore Vale, The, 27, 95, 123,
247, 266
Blaine, 31
Blakeway, Mrs., 291
" Blizzard in the West," The, 165
BlundeU, Miss, 226
Bogs, 7
" Bold Dragoon," The, 26
BoUiho, Lieut.-Col. W. E. T., 292
Bosworthick, Mr., 292
Boundaries, see Map (Note on),
Countrj- Hunted, Lo£uis of Country,
etc.
Bourne, Mr. G., 292
— ilr. R. M.. 292
Bovey, Mr. E. P., 236
319
320
THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
Bowers, Ben, 113
Bradshaw, Miss, 163
— Mr. O., 134, 153
Bragg, Mr., 87, 195, 211
Brereton, Miss, 260
Brocklesby, The, 266
Brown, Mr. Hercules, 175
BrunskiU, Mr. H. F., 226, 259,
263-77
— Mrs., 268, 284, 298, 305
— Mr. W. F., 95
Bryden, Mr. H. A., 31 f.n.
Bugle, 31
Bulley, F., 293
Bulteel, Mr. John, 5, 27, 38, 43, 44,
95
Burlton, Mr., 39
Burt, Mr. R. H. E., 227
Buttons, Hunt, 196
Byrom, Mrs., 134
Calpe Hounds, The, 287
Cann, Miss, 163
Capping, 13-14, 263
Card, Mr. F. F., 292
Carew, Mr. Tom, 58, 302
— Sir Henry, 30, 46
— Sir Walter, 34, 38, 41-59, 61, 95,
105
— The Misses, 44, 45
Carr, Mr. C. S., 297
— Mr. H. F., 134, 297
Carter, Colonel, 267
Casavetti, Mr., 176, 225
Cave-Penny, Mrs., 261
Cawdle, 293
" Cecil," 81
Champemowne, Wager between
Carew and, 59
Chandos-Pole, Mr., 258
Chichester, Capt. A., 134
— Mr. and Mrs. C, 134
Choules, Harry, 234, 238
Chronological Table, sxvii
Chvunleigh AYeek, The, 26, 39
Churchward, 87, 88
Civil and Military Gazette (Lahore),
194
Clack, Mr. J. C, 99
Clack, Mr. W. Courtenay, 99, 102,
110, 223
— W. E. S., 68
Clarke, Tom, 61, 65, 70
CUfford of Chudleigh, Lady, 224
Lord, 171, 262, 295
Chfis, Foxes in the, 51-53, 121, 158
Chmate and Weather, 14, 66, 67,
165-8, 170, 237, 281, 283
Clothes, 152, 165
Coaching, 59, 70, 129, 131, 190,
225
Cobham, Major H. W., 269, 277,
285
Cocking, The Rev. J., 224
Codner, Mr., 119, 176, 223
Cole, Mr., 107
— WiUiam, 247
Coleridge, Mr. W. R., 160
Colhngs, Frank, 222
— James, 197-201, 222, 234
— R. J., 293, 297
— J. C, 293, 297
CoUins, Miss, 292
Collipriest, 58
CoUyns, Dr., 211, 212
Coombe, Mr. W. F., 297
Coplestone, The Rev. J. H., 160
Corbett, Mr. W. R., 156
Coryton, Mr. W., 119, 305
Cottesmore, The, 2
CottreU, Mr. F., 297
Country Gentlemen, 6
— Hunted, 3, 36, 44, 52, 73, 82, 86,
91, 127, 137, 158, 160, 174, 180,
208, 210-17, 221, 240, 267, and see
Loans of Country
Coventry, The Earl of, 143
Crake, Mr., 259
Cranstoun, Lord, 68
Craven, The, 70
Crocker, Dick, 94
Croot, John, 188
Cross, Mr. J. J., 225, 235
Crossing, Mr., 107 f.n.
Cubhunting, 63, 96, 113, 155, 182
— Afternoon, 170
Cubitt, Mr. WiUiam, 95
Cunard, Sir Bache, 156
Curtis, Mr. W. S., 292
INDEX
321
Safe, Mr. T. F., 21, 70
Dniel, 31 f Ji., 107 Ln.
Dniell, Mr., 163
Damage Fund, 12, 243
" Dart and THgn Foxbounds," 173
Dart, The, 81
— Vale Hameis, Tbe, 10, 12, 225
Dartmoor, 3 Ln., 4, 5-6, 30, 40
— TIk, 45, 58, 81, 1-56, 177, 183,
247, 253, 258, 259. 268^ 293, 297,
302,305
DartzDoath, 79, 80, 94
Davie, Jade, 296
Davies, F., 293
— Iieat--CoL F. G. H^ 166
— The Rev. E. W. L., 20, 28, 27, 41,
48, 130
Dawson, The Hon. Bkfaard, 238
Deaeoi, Mr. J., 150, 348
DeadiB in the Fidd, 40, 56, 164, 235
Deer, see Red Deer ; FaOow Deer
Deukam, Mr. A^ 260
— Mr. L., 260
— Mrs. L., i60
Doges, Ynmam, 104, 105 f ju, 190,
215
Dering, Mr^ 76
Devon and SomeiBet, The, 31
— The Eari <^ 43, 61, 295
— Fazfamtting Club, The, 30
— HarriCTH. The, 61, 69
— The, 45, 61, 72
Devonian <A 1828, The, 103, 104
Diazies, Hunting, 36, 46, 47, 63, 103,
105, 106, 131, 147
Dog Shows, Jixiging at, 239
Doneraile, Lord, 39
Doney, 235
Doyle, 189
Drafts, 21, 22. 95, 100, 152, 183, 279
Drake, Mr. Hammett, 30
— Mr. John, 107
Drav, Mr. X. T., 297
Dxayum, William, 113, 120
Drew, Mr. Gooki, 61
— Mr. H., 145
Dreve, Geoenl, 160
Dadiy Lieenee. 214
Dognid, Mi&, 288
Duke of Satbafand a. The, 242
T
Dunboyne, Lord, 160
Dndee-Hooper, Mias, 292
Dootee, Sr John, 110, 119, 123.
127-35, 138, 143, 178
Dnrant-Parker, Mr. O., 292
Dwaif FoadKMgBMfa. 26
Eales, Mr^ 39, 134
Eaidley-Wiknot, Miaa. 227
BagOt^tappmg, 55, 107, 269
Basfc Devon, The, 160, 226, 266
Edwafu^ 189
S^eeeiard, The, 73, 266, 301
Mighlg Yeanf Bemimaoemoa, 48 Ln.,
62
Effieombe, C^. G., 134
— Mr. H., 134
EOb. Mr^ 119
.Kmydopodia oj Bitrai Sporia, 31 ^"
Bi^eDiavdt, Mr. W., 223, 225
Eve,]GaB,227
— Mr. W. H^ 227
Evered, Mr., 6
ExOer md Pb/mumtk Gazette, Wool-
met'*, 74, 75
EaBebr Fk^mg Poet, T\ i aBiii'a,
35 In^ 88
Exe, The, 3. 69
Exmoor, 5-C, 139
£saMwr.- or At Foatattpe of 8L
Hwbert M tke Weal, 73
Exmoor, The, 259, 264
KinawUi, Lwly, 134
Eye for a HoBBe and Homtd. 239^ 265
Evie, Govonor, 113
ar A^ 163
FainreaSfaer, J., 227. 293
FaDow Deer, 140, 249. 296
FmemeB to My OU Hom, 30. 34
Famas, 12. 132. 152. 275
FeOowea, The Hon. Newton. 24, 28.
30, 57
Fences, 4. 162
Fenier-KetT. Mr. W., 227
Fenv. Mr. Riefaard. 248
FieU, The (qooted), 31 Ln^ 65 f ju
91, 93, 113, 114, 115, 117, 119, 214
322
THE SOLTH DEVON HUXT
Fmch, Mr. George, 1S5
fishing and Hunting Compared, 171
Rtxwiffiam. The, 1S3
Fxxt^r?. 56. 37, 52. 63, &4, 74, 81,
■-i^-i. Mr. Albert, 9S
::r. H. W.. 160. 297
- ~. Sir Reginald, 224
G. M.. 260
Hounds of
' .4?. 73, 74. 79,
F:s. Si-VTer. 147 fji.
— White. 147
— Drc^TQed. 145
Foxes, A Pack cf. 24
— Bag, see B^-foxes
TozTi'urtier g G^jid-:, Ttk. SI fji.
FoxMiTtii'^.g B^m'ir.i-i^^rr^c-e.s, 224
Franklin. Mr.. 107
Freake. Lady, 224
FreHnai-. Eany. 113
Frc^es, Mr. J. F. G., 260
Frcnt. Meir.bers of the Hani at the,
162. 222. 23S. 242. 2S4. 287, 297
Fr:et. Miss. 227. 293
Frcuie, Mrs.. 261
Furz-sss, D:ri. 277
Gahraj, Ijard, 1-56
GambiCT-Pany, Tne Hon. Mrs., 129
GkxsU, CoL J. A. T., 160
— Major L. C, 160
GnOi, Mr^ 156
Gsye, Edgade-SmgeoQ A. C^ 194
— Dr. H. S.. 15, 5.3, &4, 119, 144,
192, 193-209, 211
— Major-GeneTal, 194
'' Gekn,- 27. 7.3, 74, 3i)2 f.n.
Gery, 161, 166
GibbcHis, Mr., 176
Gilbert, Mr. J. P., 27
Gillard, Frank, 197 f jl
Glosary, 317-18
Goodwin, ilr. J. D. P., 297
Goodwyn, Dr., 224
— Ms^ 223
Kaccombe. 34. oS, 42, 46, 48, 56, 58,
76. SO. 107, 114
Ha:krr. 'Ir. S.. 225
: -. E. C. 134
}L- -. -r. i3, 55. 6-5, S7, 102,
105. 115, 116, 120, 122, 135, 137,
144, 267
— Harriers, The, 10, 103, 105, 225,
267, 292
— Hounds, The, 53, 130, 131. 152
— Hoose, 128
— Lord, 139, 143, 151-1. 192
— Side, The, 15. 127-72, 218, 248,
267
Half :rd-Thompson, Mr. R., 227
Ha"-:. H. Byn-'. 73
H _, Ii'7
~:^ 2^1
Hi Kounds, The, 39, 40
E. ; ::.. 226
Ear:ir:5bire Hocmds, The, 63
Ha::c::k, Mr. R. E., 297
Hinkrv. Capt. Alers, 260
— Ik-. K. E. A., 260
E -r, 269, 270
Hare, ^±^., 'jo. ::o9
Harereave, Major, 225
Harriers, 10, 46, 55. 56. 78, 87, 107,
lis, 149, 197, 225, 264 (see also
Haldon, etc.)
Harris, Mr. C. A-, 20, 21, 22, 23,
24, 42
— T.ra. 114
>: :z-!d. The Hon. Mrs.. 163
E:.~.::h, Capt. Martin, 60-70, 213,
304
— Lady Mary, 60
Ha'srorth-Leslie, 60
Hay, T? '■ - 297
Haydor - - i
Hayne. - -
Hayte: Ir., 7, 226, 237, 284,
294, aoi
INDEX
323
Haazd, Chptein, 95
** HeeftoKB oi Ihe Mocr/^ 5
TfMii|Wiiiii1, Mr. F., 260
Bcnley. Mr. C, 22o
— Mis., 223
Heim-Gamys, Mr., 130
Hobot. Mr. it«r«»M, 14
Hext, Mr. Geoiiee, 9S, 101, 1S2, 197,
217, 2^ 257
— Mis-, 223
Heythrop, The, 95
HeyttK, 5, 29, 36, 55, 247. 25^
Kingston, Itr. Alfred, 226
— Mr. AngnsttE, 164, US, 223
HmU to Hunisrmen, 62
Hiatorg nf ike Beimir Hiatt, 21
Hoaie, Mr. Ijermax, 163
— Mr. P.M., 163
— Sr H., 75
Hahmm's ForHmmtmg AUae, 3Q2
Hi Nlgk iiM M ■!, Mr., 260
— MiB.,2G0
OiUswtvtii, Mr., 95
Hole, Mr. W., 30, 3S, 48, 110, 134,
215,223
Hohniin, Frank, 293
Hooper, Mr. R, 134, 163
HoBK. TTrniting. 31, 69, 111, 131
Hooes, PiMntingg of, 6S-9
— Types <rf, 9, 10, 71, 72, 162,
18»-9,24S
Hoond Lists, 76-7, S4-5
— Wofk, 2, 239
Hoonds, 8. 22, 26, 27, 35, 43, 104.
143, 241, 265, 266, 295-6
— AeeidentB to, 53, 67
— FBEQtingB oi, 76
Hont B^ 268
— BottoDB, 196
" 224
56, 98, 107, 110
of (see XazDe ci Hont)
— Bales, Berised, 275, 276, 312-16
HmtiBg Diaries, see Diaries
Humii»g Tcwrr, 25, 26, 27
HnntsBOOi, 47, S7, 94. 105, 112, 113.
131, 151. 152. 160, 161, 183-4.
197, 199-201, 245
Hurle. Cokinel £. F. Cooke, 279
A. Cooke, 278-88
" In -country, 3
Ivyfaridse W^k. Tze, Si. 4«, 52, 95,
108
i Jai^^ A Tazre, 24
I Jemngp. B^ 104
JcphBon, Major. 260
• Jex vuise-Snatli. Tlie Hon. Mis., 261
I Jam mil tf Oe OpewmHams e^ <ke
Bebeir Hmmt, 21
Kpanng, Major, 107, 134, 223 -"-^
KeOoek, Mr. G. F., 225
— Mr. T. C 93
•gimwBj Sr Jolm, 31
Kamch. 19, 32, 42, 62, 74, 79, 87,
103, 113, 12*, 136, 152, 174, 186^
181, 195, 221, 222
King (of PoitlHaeombe)^ Joke, 33-iO,
47
— ThnmaB, 40
— Mr. Walker. 102
KimfBtfOe HmmUm^ Fidi, XI
Sitson. Mr., 38, 68, 176, 215. 223; 238
Kjught-B^oee, Mr. G., 291
Kn«er. Mr. H. S., 225
LnnbeO. Tom. 163, IM
LnKTtoo, Tbe, 74, 255, 259, 279
Lmmd mmd Wtter, 58
LapoowMiH, 10
Lane. Mr. T. V., 68, 71-7, 81, 213
Laurie, Dr., 225
Lav of Fuxk—Hine. 212-13
Lee, Mr. Godfrey. 68, 134, ±25
— Mr. B. H., 298
Leieestar. Mis.. 227
Leriie. Lady Mary, 68, 69
" Let-e»«knB.'' Tlie. 26. 30
Leddndge. Ckp^ J. a B^ 261
324
THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
Lethbridge, Mr. F. S. B., 261
Letters on the Past and Present Fox-
hounds of Devonshire, 21, 22, 23,
24, 32, 35, 39, 42
Lewis, Miss, 293
— Mr. E., 227
Ley, Mr. H., 39, 134
— Mr. J. H., 38, 153, 208, 295
— Mr. W., 39
Life of the Rev. J. Russell, 20, 25, 26,
30, 40, 57, 130
' Lilliputians," 27
Limits of Country, see Country
Hunted, Loans of Country, Map
(Note on)
Lindridge, 19, 27, 50, 65, 86, 107, 113,
116, 123, 146, 267
Lindsell, Mr., 156
Line taken by Foxes, 52, 53, 54, 55
Little, Dr. F. E., 224, 235
Llangibby and Chepstow, The, 189
Loans of Country, 15, 230, 249, 280,
284, 294, 297, 304
Long, Mr., 40
Lonsdale, Mr. Hey wood, 156
Loram, George, 98, 132, 161
Lord, Mr., 134
Lord Coventry's, 95
— Fitzhardinge's, 240
— Haldon's, 152
— Poltimore's, 95
— Portman's, 242
— Portsmouth's, 183
Lowe, Capt. Stanley, 95
Lowndes, Mr. H. B., 297
Luscombe, 106, 107, 116, 130, 138,
147, 148, 157, 267
Luxmoore, Mr., 68, 117, 176
— Mrs., 176
Luxton, Mr. A. W., 301
Lyster, Major, 227
McCasland, Mr. A., 163
— Mr. J., 163
Macclesfield, Lord, 144
Macdonald, Dr. Ross, 225
Maclellan, Mr. J. A., 26
McLeod, Major, 134
Makepeace, Mr., 39
Mallard seized by a hunted fox, 40
Mallock, Mr. Richard, 176
Mamhead, 68, 88, 120, 122, 138, 144,
146, 147, 148
Mann, Mr., 261
Manners, Lord Robert, 21
Manwood's Forest Laws, 140 f.n.
Map, Note on the, 301-5
Marley, 42, 44
Marshall, Mr. C, 192
Martin, Mr., 259
Mason, Arthur, 113, 175
Masters of Foxhounds Association,
Arbitration by the, 196, 210, 215
Masters of the South Devon, xxvii
Matthew, Mr. R. W., 261
Maye, Mr. T., 225
Meeting, Principal places of, 306
Menneer, Mr. R., 261
Michelmore, Mr. H., 100, 109, 119,
215
Mid-Devon, The, 7, 210, 216, 225,
226, 230, 234, 249, 255, 258, 267,
294, 301
Mid-Devon Advertiser, 119
Modbury Harriers, The, 175
Moffatt, Mr. A., 118, 215
Mohun-Harris, 23
Monkey following hovmds. A, 24
Monmouthshire, The, 14
Monro, Mr. Alec, 110, 215
Moor Week, see South Devon Hunt
Week
Moorland, 3
Morel, Mr., 277
Morley, Lord, 295
Morris, Mr., 249
Mortimer, Mr. W. R., 107
Mortimore, Mr., 119
Mr. Bolitho's Hounds, 160
— Coryton's Hounds, 183
— Froude Bellew's Hounds, 183
— King's Hounds, 35
— Lobb's Hounds, 161
— Morgan's Hounds, 74
— Netherton's Hounds, 175
— Norton's Hounds, 170
— St. Maur's Hounds, 223
— Scott Brown's Hounds, 266
— Snow's Hounds, 131
INDEX
325
Mr. Townsend's Harriers, 149
— Trelawny's Hounds, 40
— Tremlett's Harriers, 149, 170
Hovinds, 170
— Whidbome's Hounds, 87, 181
Name of the Hunt, xxvii, 35, 45, 61,
72-4, 81, 87, 92, 128, 137, 152, 167,
173, 181, 191-2
Naper, Captain, 297
Nevard, Will, 131
New Forest Hounds, 279
Wild Red Deer in the, 139
New Sporting Magazine, The, 39, 45
Newman, Sir Lydston, 115, 132
— Sir Robert, 295
Newton Abbot Steeplechases, 242-3
Newton Side, The, 173-209
" Nimrod," 1, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 129
Norris, Miss, 223
North, Dan, 53, 131, 133, 137, 138,
150, 152, 160
North Devon, The, 74
— Staffordshire, The, 242, 248
— Warwickshire, The, 83
Norton, Mr. Lowndes, 195, 294
Oakley, The, 183
Old Berkshire, The, 60, 83
On Looking Back from Haldon, 29, 30,
136
One Hundred Years on Dartmoor,
107 f.n.
Original Country, The, 15, 19-123
Owen, Mr. Arthur, 54
Oxton, 61, 68, 88, 107, 121, 136, 137,
144, 146, 148, 154, 249
Paignton, 51
Palairet, Mr. L. C. H., 297
— Mrs., 297
Palk, Mr. E. A., 129, 130
— Sir Lawrence, 117, 119, 120, 123,
127-35
— Sir Lawrence Vaughan, 129
Pape, Mr. A. G., 259, 267, 295
Parker, Mr. Mackworth, 259
Parson, Mr. H., 163
Partition of the Country, 123,1127-
218
Patch, Colonel, 261
— Mr. J., 261
Paul, Mr. J., 297
— William, 190
Peacock, Mr. H. B., 261
Pennell, Mr. C. L., 292
Petch, Mr., 292
— Mrs., 292
PhiUips, Tom, 28, 42
— Mr. W. J., 225
Phillpotts, R.N., Capt., 261
— Mr. Raleigh, 226, 284
— Mr. W. F., 226
" Pidgon " (quoted), 8
Pike, Charley, 61
Pinsent, Mr. J., 107, 119, 215
Pitt, The Rev. Joe, 224
Pitts, Mr., 95
— Mr. C. H. H., 226
Pleasure House, The, 54
Pode, Mr., 39
Pollard, Mr. R. W., 119
Poltimore, Lord, 160
Pomeroy, E. W., 293
Portman, Lord, 156
Portsmouth, Lord, 24, 57, 100, 240
Potts-Chatto, Mrs., 227
Poultry, 12
Powderham, 37, 43, 58, 60, 61,|107,
120, 130, 249, 295
Presentations, 12, 90, 103, 110, 209,
218, 260, 262, 276
Prickman, Mr. J. D., 226
Puppy-judging, 143, 167, 266
Pycroft, Dr., 134
— Miss, 134
Pytchley, The, 83
Quantock Staghounds, The, 258
Quenton, Mr., 39
Quom, The, 58
Rabbit-coursing with foxes, 28
Raby, Dr., 225
Radcli£Ee, Miss, 288
326
THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
Railways, 54, 127, 145
Ralston, Mr. G. C, 230
Red Deer, 107 f.n., 137-40, 149, 164
Reed, ]VIr. W., 107
Reeves, F., 279, 287, 291
Remfry, Mr. G., 119
Reminiscences oj an Old West-
country Clergyman, 101
RendeU, Mr. Arthur S., 182, 196, 203,
287, 223
— Mr. Lewis, 217, 218, 226
— Mr. Robert Francis, 92, 107, 119
— Mr. WilHe, 204, 223, 225, 245-6,
259
— Mrs. W., 227, 248, 257
Rew, Mr., 134, 267, 295
Ridley, Colonel, 176
— Miss, 176
Riley, Mr., 176
Riot, 107, 139, 185
Ripley, Mr. H. M. B., 224, 225
— Mrs., 224
Road Scrapings, 69
Robertson, Miss, 292
Robinson, Mr. J. Fletcher, 225
Rodd's Harriers, Mr., 56
RoUe, Lady, 157
— The Hon. Mark, 128, 159, 160
Ross, Mr. Augustus F., 112-23,
173-9, 211, 278
RoweU, Mr. J., 297
Rufiord, The, 183
Rules, Revised Hunt, 275, 276,
312-16
Runs, Notable, 89, 109, 204-8, 251-7,
270-4, 282-4
Rural Sports, 31 f.n., 107 f.n.
RusseU, The Rev. J., 23, 27, 28, 40,
58, 87, 130
Rutland, Duke of, 21
St. Aubyn, Mr., 95
St. Hubert's Hall, 22, 42
St. Leger, Mr., 39
— The, 254, 255
St. Maur, Mr. Harold, 221-31
— Mrs., 222
Sandford Orleigh, 30, 31
Sara, Will, 104
Scent, 4, 5, 66, 67, 149, 168, 170
Scott, Dr., 224
Scratton, Mr. D. R., 119
— Mr. E. W., 261
Scrimgeour, Mr. T. S., 227, 288
Seale, Sir Henry P., 42, 43, 45, 55, 61,
78-85, 91-6, 102, 215
Secretaries, Hunt, 107, 109, 118, 131,
141, 160, 163, 174, 182, 196, 260,
269, 285, 291
Servington-Savery, Mr., 27
Seymour, Mr. H. S., 292
Shannon, Lord, 95, 120
Shaw, 21
SheUey, Mr. J. F., 296, 297
— Sir John, 259, 296, 303
Sherrard, Captain, 226
Shires, Himting in the, 1, 42
Shooting Tenants, 11, 141, 170, 247
Short, Miss, 295
— Mr. Frank, 39, 68, 88, 131, 141
Shows, Prizes at, 265, 266, 280, 290
Shrubb, Mr. H. G., 297
Silver Fox, A, 147 f.n.
Silverton, The, 259, 263, 267, 294,
304
Simmons, Miss, 224
Simpson, Miss, 275
— Mr. F. C, 223, 275, 276, 287
— Mr. S., 293
Singer, Mr. A. M., 225
— Mr. W. M. G., 225, 232-43, 244,
262
Sir John Amory's Staghounds, 238
Skidmore, Mr. H. P., 223, 227
Smith, Nat, 113
— 160
Somerset, Duke of, 29
Soper, Mr., 101
South Devon, see Name of the Hunt
Himt Week, 258
South Dorset, The, 266
— Pool Harriers, The, 197, 264
Southwood, Mr., 163
Spencer, Mr. Moimtford, 227
Spiller, Mr. G., 226, 230, 252, 254,
294, 301
Splatt, Mrs., 187, 212, 224
Square, Mr. J. H., 95
Staghounds, Sir John Amory's, 238
INDEX
327
StaghurUing with the Devon and
Somerset, 6
Stanford's Hunting Map, 302, 303 f.n.
Stanley, Mr. E. A. V., 258
Steele, Dr., 292
— Mrs., 292
— ?*Ir. H. S., 225
— Mr. H. W., 119, 223
Stephens, Charles, 104
Stover, 14, 19-32 passim, 29, 32, 33,
53, 105, 107
Strutt, 167
Studd, aiiss E., 297
— Mr. E. F., 134. 136-50, 151, 153,
155-72, 17S, 179, 267, 295, 304
— Mr. Ernest, 267
Studdy, ilr. Henry, 61, 176
Subscriptions, 13, 117-19, 141, 233,
263, 280, 285
Swears, Mr. C. J., 225, 261
Swete, Mr. H., 67, 68
Symes, Mr. J., 297
Symons, Dr., 224
-Mr. P., 119, 223
Talbot, Colonel, 160
Tanner, I\Ir. Feamley, 123, 173-4,
211, 215, 223
Tattershall, Mr. J. A., 301
Tayleur, Miss E., 224
— Mr. C, 225
Taylor, Mr. Henrj% 23, 25, 26
— The Rev. Fitzwilliam, 215
Teign, The, 30, 42, 52, 53, 54, 65,
127, 156
Teignmouth, 3, 52, 87, 106, 116, 127,
136, 146
— and Shaldon Bridge, 23, 54
Tempest, Miss, 224
Templer, Capt. J. G. E., 19, 31,
134, 223
— Colonel, 20
— George, 5, 19-32, 34, 46, 65, 86
— James, 20
— The Late Reginald, 24, 31, 34
— The Rev. John, 19
Terriers, 69
Territorial Differences, 210-18
The Attorney, 29
The Eighth Duke of Beaufort and the
Badminton Hunt, 70
The Silver Greyhound, 69
Thomas, Capteiin Ne\-iUe, 163
— Mr. Salusbury, 196, 210, 214, 216,
294
Thompson, Harry, 247
Thomson, Colonel Anstruther, 47, 62,
98
" Thormanby," 21
Thornton, The Rev. W, H., 7, 101,
224
Thoughts on Hunting, 31
Tinline, iHss, 291
Tiverton, The, 48, 302-5
Torquay, 53, 117, 121
Totnes, 12, 73, 83, 91
Tozer, Captain A. G., 226
— ^Ir. Basil, 226
— Mr. Solomon, 207, 208, 226
Treby, Mr. Paul Ourry, 28
Treeby, Sirs., 163, 226
Trelawny, ilr. Charles, 57, 81, 94,
128
— Mr. Salusbur>-, 28, 42
Trelawny's Hounds, Mr., 40, 128
Tremlett, The, 249, 259, 303
Trood, Mrs., 134
Tucker, Dick, 93
— Major R. C, 103, 105, 106, 107,
119, 215
— Mr. Pamell, 197, 226
Tudor, Captain, 223
— Miss, 227
Turfties, 8
Turner, Miss, 39, 227
Twj-sden, Captain, 95
Ugbrooke, 50, 53, 65, 107, 115, 123,
147, 148. 149, 249, 267
Uniacke, Captain, 95
Unwin, Mr., 266
Vicary, Captain Alec, 242
— Mr. Cecil, 242
— Mr. C. G., 223, 242
— Mr. C. L., 242
— Mr. L. G., 226, 242, 252, 257, 269
328
THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT
Vicary, ^Ir. Norman, 242
— Air. Robert, 99, 100, 119, 215, 223,
232-43, 262
— Mr. W. R., 226, 242, 252, 257,
288, 291
Voice in the Hunting Field, 79, 83,
94, 114, 131, 184, 200, 246, 265
V.W.H., The, 83, 266
Waddeton-Smith, Dr., 297
Wakeham, George, 93
Wale, Mrs., 224
Walker, Mr. C. E. R., 99
WaU, Mr., 68
Walsh, Colonel, 226
War, Outbreak of the, 286
Ward, Mr. Henry, 59
Ward-Wreford, Mr. D„ 12
Warwickshire, The, 143
Waterford, Lord, 71
Watson, ilr. R. H., 48, 81, 83
Watts, Mr. W. J., 116
Weather, see Climate
Webber, Mr. W., 107
Webster, Mr. B. D., 225
West Somerset, The, 156, 266
Western Morning News, The (quoted),
8, 78, 79
Western, The, 160
Westlake, Mr. T., 91, 05, 97-111
— Mr. R., Ill
Wheatland, The, 112
Whidbome, Miss, 89, 106, 113, 134,
181, 186, 188-9, 211, 213, 224
— Mr., 10, .5.3, 8.3, 86-90, 06, 105,
1.34, 136, 137, 138, 139, 142, 178,
179, 180-92, 211, 223
" Whip," Colloquial Use of, 65 f.n.
Whipham, Mr. Guy, 226
Whippers-in, 23, 61, 70, 87, 93, 99
103, 104, 112, 113, 189, 222, 234^
247, 287, 296
Whistle, 130
White Fox, A, 147
White, James, 120
— mss, 227
WTiiteway, 37, 65, 107, 120, 147,
157
Whitley, Mr. Herbert, 287, 289-99
— Mr. WiUiam, 287, 289-99
Widdicombe-in-the-Moor, 36, 252,
283
Whitmore, Jack, 180, 181, 183-5, 197
Wilcocks, Mr. C. L., 267, 295
— Mr. J. M., 297
Wilkins, Mr. F., 261
Wilkinson, Miss, 297
Williams (of Scorrier), Mr. John, 248
Wills, Mr. C. C, 107, 108, 119
— Mr. J., 107, 132
Winter-Wood, Mr., 112
Wire, 6, 67
Wolf -hunting, 140
Woodley, Mr. J., 215
Woolcombe, Mr., 95
Woolcombe- Adams, Captain, 297
Worcestershire, The, 95
Worrall, Mr. W. H., 297
Worth of Worth, Mr., 30
Wright, Mr. Arthur, 227
— Mr. H. S., 99, 197, 223
— Mr. John, 99, 215
Wyatt-Edgell, Mr. M., 297
Yeatman, The Rev. H. Farr, 27, 29
Yoimg, Mr. C, 169
Zetland, Lord, 156
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